Dominican Republic bans Haiti football squad after stadium rush by fans

The Dominican Republic on Friday banned Haiti’s national football team from playing on its soil, after Haitian fans tried to force their way into a sold-out game between the neighboring countries.

The incident comes amid tensions between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, which share the island of Hispaniola.

On Thursday, Haiti won the so-called “Hispaniola Derby”, 4-1, which counted as Concacaf Nations League play. It was the first match between the two sides on Dominican soil since 2013.

“The sports ministry totally forbids the Haitian national football team from playing in Dominican sports venues,” said Dominican sports minister Kelvin Cruz, calling the incident at Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium “unacceptable”.

In the wake of the drama, some Dominicans also took issue with Haitian star striker Wilson Isidor shouting “Hispaniola is Haiti! This is Haiti!” after his two goals.

Jose Deschamps, the head of the Dominican Republic’s football federation, told AFP that Isidor’s comments were “not appropriate, given the situation between the two countries”.

Haiti has been wracked by deadly gang violence in recent years, with swaths of the Caribbean country controlled by heavily armed criminal syndicates that local authorities have so far been powerless to subdue.

Dominican President Luis Abinader has made a crackdown on Haitian immigration one of his key issues, notably building a wall along the common border.

More than 265,000 Haitians were expelled from the Dominican Republic in the first eight months of this year, according to official figures.