Dominican Republic bans Haiti football team from venues

The Dominican Republic banned Haiti’s national football team from playing in Dominican sports venues after Haitian fans tried to force their way into a sold-out match between the neighbouring countries.

Dominican Sports Minister Kelvin Cruz announced the ban Friday and called the incident at Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium unacceptable.

Haiti beat the Dominican Republic 4-1 on Thursday in a CONCACAF Nations League match known as the Hispaniola Derby. It was the first match between the two national sides on Dominican soil since 2013.

Some Dominicans also objected to Haitian striker Wilson Isidor shouting “Hispaniola is Haiti! This is Haiti!” after scoring two goals. Jose Deschamps, head of the Dominican Republic’s football federation, told AFP the comments were not appropriate given relations between the two countries.

The incident comes amid tensions between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. Dominican President Luis Abinader has made a crackdown on Haitian immigration a key issue, including building a wall along the shared border. Official figures say more than 265,000 Haitians were expelled from the Dominican Republic in the first eight months of this year.