The Dominican Republic soccer team faces the Concacaf Nations League as part of the preparatory process for the qualifiers for the 2030 World Cup, a stage that the Dominican team has never reached.
With this purpose, the Dominican Football Federation renewed the contract with the national coach, the Argentine Marcelo Neveleff, until 2030, due to the good results also obtained as coordinator of the various categories of the men’s team.
In the current Concacaf Nations League, in which it will also seek qualification for the 2027 Gold Cup, the Dominican team will play for the first time in League 2, the highest level of the tournament, divided into two groups.
In Group A, the Dominican Republic faces two recent World Cup teams: Haiti and Curacao, as well as Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, Group B is made up of Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala, Suriname, Martinique and El Salvador.
The Dominican team begins the first phase at home (on September 24) by hosting Nicaragua at the Cibao FC Stadium, in Santiago de los Caballeros (north).
Three days later (September 27) it will visit Trinidad & Tobago in Port of Spain and on October 1 it will receive the Haiti squad at the Félix Sánchez Olympic Stadium, in the capital Santo Domingo, and will close the first phase on October 4 during its visit to Nicaragua in the city of Managua.
“We must go game by game, all the games and the level of the rivals are important, we are in a complicated group but our objective is to stay in League A and fight for a place in the Gold Cup,” said coach Marcelo Neveleff on the League’s website. Dominican Football Federation.
Figures of the Quisqueyano team
Neveleff for the Nations League has the base of Dominican players who played in the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2025.
Key players in the team are striker Mariano Díaz, who played for Real Madrid, Sevilla and Olympique Lyon, and currently plays for Deportivo Alavés in the Spanish first division, and left back Junior Firpo, from Real Betis, and with experience in Barcelona and Leeds United, in England.
Other figures are the experienced goalkeeper Miguel Lloyd, 43 years old, starter and champion of Cibao, and the attacker Dorny Romero, of the Bolivian Bolívar and top scorer of the national team, with 27 goals.
Coach Neveleff, who has spent his career primarily in the United States, is convinced that in the Dominican Republic, which ranks 144th in the FIFA rankings and 18th in Concacaf, there are talented footballers “to change the mentality” of the team, such as Firpo and Rosario, and he wants to put together the structure for a winning team.
“When I spoke with engineer Manuel Estrella (president of Cibao) and seeing this man behind this project who was so interested in football growing, I was excited to join that project and direct the team,” said the coach in a recent interview with the Primera Bola program.
The Dominican Republic is the first team led by Neveleff, who took office in January 2023 and achieved the team’s qualification for the 2025 Gold Cup and promotion to League A of the Concacaf Nations League.
Don’t miss a second of the action 👀📺 pic.twitter.com/8BQBhmkmY0
— Concacaf Nations League (@CNationsLeague) September 23, 2026
Call for players
The list of the Dominican Republic is made up of the following:
– Goalkeepers:
Xavier Valdez (Nashville – United States), Edwin Frías (Cibao FC – RD), Pedro Espinal (Delfines del Este).
– Defenders:
Jeremy Báez (Salcedo FC – DR), Edgar Pujol (Racing Club Ferrol – Spain), Alejandro López (Rayo Vallecano – Spain), Noah Dollenmayer (El Paso Locomotive – USA), Luiyi De Lucas (FC Krasava – Cyprus), Júnior Firpo (Real Betis – Spain), Juan Carlos Familia (RKC Waalwijk – Netherlands), César García (Atlético Vega Real – DR).
– Midfielders:
Jean Carlos López (Cibao FC – RD), Lucas Bretón (Málaga CF – Spain), Daniel Leonardo Flores (Salcedo FC – RD), Pablo Rosario (FC Porto – Portugal), Heinz Morschel (FC Vizela – Portugal), Yordy Álvarez (Real Tomayapo – Bolivia).
– Forwards:
Edarlyn Reyes (Arsenal Tula – Russia), Juan Carlos Pineda (FC Sheriff Tiraspol – Moldova), Peter González (Gornik Zabrze – Poland), Mariano Díaz (Deportivo Alavés – Spain), Dorny Romero (Club Bolívar – Bolivia), Edson Azcona (Las Vegas Lights – United States).
