The Dominica national football team is the national team of

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

and is controlled by the

Dominica Football Association The Dominica Football Association is the governing body of football in Dominica. The Dominica national football team is the national team of Dominica and is controlled by the Dominica Football Association. The national league of Dominica is the ...

. They are a member of

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

. Dominica has never qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

History

Beginnings

Dominica played its first international match in 1932, against

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, a match that ended in a 1–0 victory. In the 1940s they participated in the 1948 Coupe des Caraibes, losing in the preliminaries against

5–0 but qualified due to Trinidad and Tobago's withdrawal. In the competition proper, Dominica again faced Martinique, losing 6–0 and being eliminated. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dominica played in several editions of the

Windward Islands Tournament The Windward Islands Tournament is a football tournament that takes place on an annual basis in the Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Sa ...

, winning the competition in 1971 with two 3–0 victories over Saint Vincent and

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

, and a 2–2 draw against

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

. In the 1980s, Dominica regularly participated in the qualifying rounds of the

CFU Championship The CFU Championship (sometimes referred to as the CFU Nations Cup) was a football tournament for teams in the area of Caribbean between the years 1978–1988. It was the precursor of the Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship ...

, although they were unable to make it into the tournament proper.

1990s

After the creation of the

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

in 1989, Dominica was only able to qualify for the group stage in the 1994 edition. They could not get past the first phase, after losing to the hosts

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

5–0 and

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

4–0. They were only able to draw 1–1 with

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. They next qualified for the 1998 Caribbean Cup, being eliminated again in the first round, this time with three defeats against

5–1,

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

2–1 and

8–0. Dominica has not managed to return to the final phase of the Caribbean Cup since. Dominica participated in World Cup qualification for the first time in the 1998 qualifiers beating

in the first round (3–3 in

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...

and 1–3 in St. John's) before losing in the second phase to

(1–0 in both

and

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

2000–present

In the 2002 qualifiers, the ''Pericos'' succumbed to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

7–1 on aggregate, and in the 2006 qualifiers, after beating

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

with an aggregate result of 4–2, the Dominicans faced the Mexican team that crushed them 10–0 in the first leg, then 8–0 at

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

. The decade would end with an elimination at the hands of

, just like in 1996, this time as part of the 2010 qualifiers (1–1 in

and 0–1 in

). On 15 October 2010, Dominica achieved the greatest victory in its history, beating the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

10–0, with 5 goals from striker Kurlson Benjamin - in the first qualifying round of the 2010 Caribbean Cup. The following year, in the

2014 World Cup qualifiers The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined b ...

, Dominica was drawn against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. They lost all four of their games, failing to score a goal and conceding 11. They were eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualification by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, who beat them 6–0 over two legs.

Coaching history

* Clifford Celaire (1996) * Helmut Kosmehl (2000) * Don Leogal (2004) * Clifford Celaire (2005–2006) * Christopher Ericson (2008–2009) * Kurt Hector (2009–2013)Hector was reported to have been killed in a traffic accident on 19 April 2013. No new coach has yet been appointe
Dominica football coach, player die in crash , Boston Herald
/ref> * Ronnie Gustave (2013-2014) * Shane Marshall (2014–2017) * Rajesh Latchoo (2017–2022)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

matches against

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territo ...

and

on 2 and 9 June 2021. ''Caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2021, after the match against

.''

Recent call-ups

^INJ Withdrew due to injury
^PRE Preliminary squad / standby
^RET Retired from the national team
^SUS Serving suspension
^WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Records

:''Players in bold are still active with Dominica.''

Competition records

FIFA World Cup

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Nations League

Caribbean Cup

References

{{National sports teams of Dominica Caribbean national association football teams