The

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in the country of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

is run by the Federación Dominicana de Fútbol. The association administers the national football team, as well as the

Liga Dominicana de Fútbol The Liga Dominicana de Fútbol is the first professional football league in Dominican Republic, it was launched in March 2015. For sponsorship reasons it is known as ''LDF Banco Popular''. History Prior to the league's establishment, football i ...

. In the Dominican Republic, baseball is the most popular sport, followed by basketball or association football, depending on the area in the Dominican Republic. Football is considered to be in constant growth since 2012. This sport was usually played from middle to high-class high school students, specially in urban areas like Santo Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata, Moca and Jarabacoa, however, in the last few years, the sport has expanded and it is played mostly everywhere in the country. That the sport was first played by wealthy children created an extreme commercialization on the sport, where most of the available football courts, where children are to master their skills, have to be rented, prices often range between 40 - 50 USD an hour, nonetheless, there are futsal courts available for free. Nowadays, football can be as popular as basketball, as interest keeps growing, Dominicans are constantly waiting for their squad to bring a Gold Cup title to the country.

History

Football was first introduced to the Dominican Republic at the beginning of 20th Century. For a long time, the country was not renowned in the sport, due to football being played only in amateur level. From 2010s, more concrete attempts were made to professionalise football in the country. In 2014, the

was founded as the first-ever professional football league in the country, in an attempt to boost the country's football profile. Since 2020s, Dominican Republic has experienced a dramatic rise in fortune at the sport. The country's U-23 team qualified for the first time ever in the 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship, but fell short from qualifying, losing all three games and failed to reach the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Nonetheless, its rise in fortune has been facilitated by the recent success of the U-20 team, when the country reached a major football final for the first time in 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Though failed to win the trophy, the Dominican Republic was able to secure two historic football debut in

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 197 ...

as well as the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

. Its recent rise in fortune has been attributed to the professionalisation of football in the country, which began in 2014.

League

is the top professional league in the Dominican Republic, it began in 2014.

League system

Until 2014

National team

The Dominican Republic national team has never qualified for a major tournament such as the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

References

{{League systems