The Liga Dominicana de Fútbol is the first professional football league in Dominican Republic, it was launched in March 2015.[2] For sponsorship reasons it is known as LDF Banco Popular.[3]
 | |
| Founded | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Confederation | CONCACAF |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Copa Dominicana de Fútbol |
| International cup(s) | CONCACAF Champions Cup CONCACAF Caribbean Cup CONCACAF Caribbean Shield |
| Current champions | Cibao F.C. (2024) |
| Most championships | Cibao F.C. (5 titles) |
| TV partners | Domestic CDN Deportes[1] Live Streaming |
| Website | ligadominicanadefutbol.com |
| Current: 2024 Liga Dominicana de Fútbol | |
History
editPrior to the league's establishment, football in the Dominican Republic was only played in a semi-pro level.
To address the issue and to raise the status of football in the country, the Dominican Football Federation has decided to implement the idea of a new professional league in the country, to attract more people into the sport. Thus, the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol was approved, as an attempt to raise the country's football profile. The first season began in 2014.[4]
Jarabacoa FC gets Relegated for the 2024 Season
editOn 2 February 2024, the Official Jarabacoa FC account on X announced they will not participate in the 2024 season in desire to maintain and improve their turf along with general improvements to their Stadium.[1] The 2024 season will feature the previous 8 teams from the 2023 season.[5]
Competition format
editIn the first three installments, each team played 18 matches in the regular season with the 4 teams with most points qualifying for the playoffs. The champion was decided in a single-legged final.
The 2018 season grew from 10 to 12 teams with the arrival of San Francisco de Macoris (Atlético) and Bayaguana (Inter). Since Delfines from the Eastern part of the country joined, the LDF now had a team in each of the seven provinces and the National District, and the only professional league with a team in the South region San Cristóbal.
The tournament featured 132 regular series matches. Each team played 22 games in the regular phase (instead of the 18 of the first three editions), and the six highest scoring advanced to the second phase, where they played one against all in a round. The best four then advanced to a semi-final with round-trip matches. The winners had a championship in a single match, which extends the league calendar to 152 matches from 95 in 2017.
As a novelty, the LDF 2018 season had a national and international television transmission chain that brought the small screen 60 matches at the local level and a number of meetings to be defined that will be taken to at least five nations of the region, including the United States and Mexico.
The 2019 tournament of the Liga Dominicana de Futbol started with 12 teams. The event brought up a new format in which each of the twelve clubs can have up to 6 foreign players on their payroll.
The new format includes an "Apertura" and a "Clausura" tournament, both will be played one round and have been agreed with the twelve clubs and also with CONCACAF. The "Apertura" will have a semifinal with the four best teams and then a final, as well as the "Clausura".
The champion of each tournament will then compete to win the qualification to the CONCACAF championship tournament. Another club will qualify for the CONCACAF tournament, accumulating the most points in both tournaments.
Teams
edit| Team | City | Stadium (capacity) | Founded | First season |
Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDF | |||||
| Cibao F.C. | Santiago | Estadio Cibao FC (10,000) | 2014 | 2015 |  Jorge Alfonso
|
| Atlético Vega Real | La Vega | Estadio Olímpico (La Vega) (7,000) | 2014 | 2015 |  Jose Rodriguez
|
| Moca F.C. | Moca | Estadio Complejo Deportivo Moca 86 (2,000) | 1971 | 2015 | Ronald Batista
|
| Atlántico F.C. | Puerto Plata | Estadio Leonel Plácido (2,000) | 2014 | 2015 | Lenín José Bastidas Bello
|
| C.A. San Cristóbal | San Cristóbal | Estadio Panamericano (3,000) | 2014 | 2015 | Froilán Hidalgo
|
| Delfines Del Este F.C. | La Romana | Estadio Municipal La Romana (1,200) | 2014 | 2015 |  Juan Carlos Gastón
|
| Universidad O&M F.C. | Santo Domingo | Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez (27,000) | 2010 | 2015 |  Martín Arriola
|
| C.A. Pantoja | Santo Domingo | Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez (27,000) | 1999 | 2015 | Orlando Capellino
|
Former Teams
edit| Team | City | Stadium (capacity) | First season |
Last season |
Head coach | Record W/T/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club Barcelona Atlético | Santo Domingo | Estadio Parque del Este (3,500) | 2015 | 2019 | 25/28/40 | |
| Bauger F.C. | Santo Domingo | Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez (27,000) | 2015 | 2017 | Jorge Rolando Baguer | 24/06/24 |
| Inter de Bayaguana | Bayaguana | Estadio Bayaguana (1,000) | 2018 | 2019 | 2/4/16 | |
| Don Bosco Jarabacoa FC | Jarabacoa | Estadio de Fútbol Junior Mejía (1,800) | 2018 | 2023 | Ramón Calderé | 37/31/41 |
| Club Atlético de San Francisco | San Francisco de Macorís | Complejo Deportivo Juan Pablo Duarte (2,500) | 2017 | 2022 | Daniel Álvarez | 26/15/28 |
Champions
edit| Year | Playoff Champions (Champions) |
Regular Season (Regular Season) |
Runner-up | Top Scorer(s) | Top Scorer's Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Pantoja | Bauger | Atlántico FC | Jonathan Faña | Bauger | 17 |
| 2016 | Barcelona Atlético | Barcelona Atlético | Cibao | Anderson Arias | Club Barcelona Atlético | 11 |
| 2017 | Atlántico FC | Cibao FC | Atlético Pantoja | Armando Maita, Mauro Gomez, Woodensky Cherenfant | Club Atlético Pantoja, Atlántico FC, Cibao FC | 10 |
| 2018 | Cibao FC | Atlético de San Francisco | Atlético de San Francisco | Fredys Arrieta | Atlético de San Francisco | 18 |
| 2019 | Atlético Pantoja | Cibao FC | Cibao FC | Pablo Marisi | Club Atlético Pantoja | 13 |
| 2020 | O&M FC | Cibao FC, O&M FC | Delfines del Este FC | Daniel Jamesley | O&M FC | 7 |
| 2021 | Cibao FC | Cibao FC | Atlético Vega Real | Juan David Díaz Sánchez | Atlético Pantoja | 18 |
| 2022 | Cibao FC | Cibao FC | Atlético Pantoja | Gustavo Azcona | Moca FC | 14 |
| 2023 | Cibao FC | Cibao FC | Moca FC | Oscar Leonardo Becerra Gamboa | Atlantico FC | 18 |
| 2024 | Cibao FC | Cibao FC | O&M FC | Rivaldo Correa | Cibao FC | 21 |
Most goals
edit| Place | Player | Country | Team (s) | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Arias |  Venezuela |
Atlántico FC (2015) Club Barcelona Atlético (2016) O&M FC (2017) |
47 |
| 2 | Pablo Marsini | Argentina |
Atlantico FC (2017) Cibao FC (2018) Club Atlético Pantoja (2019) |
38 |
| 3 | Domingo Peralta | Dominican Republic |
Cibao FC (2015-2017) | 37 |
| 4 | Daniel Jamesley |  Haiti |
Jarabacoa FC (2018) | 37 |
| 5 | Charles Herold Jr. | Haiti |
Cibao FC (2015-) | 36 |
| 6 | Luis Espinal | Dominican Republic |
Club Atlético Pantoja (2015-2019) Cibao FC (2021-) Moca FC |
33 |
| 7 | Jonathan Faña | Dominican Republic |
Bauger FC (2015) Cibao FC (2016) Moca FC (2017) Club Atlético Pantoja (2018) |
30 |
| 8 | Sam Colson | Haiti |
Cibao FC (2015-2017) Atletico San Cristobal (2018) Atletico Vega Real (2018) Atlético San Cristobal) |
30 |
| 9 | Berthame Dine | Haiti |
Atlántico FC (2015) Atlético Vega Real (2016-) |
25 |
| 10 | Bony Pierre | Haiti |
Bauger FC (2015-2016) Club Barcelona Atlético (2017-) |
21 |
Stadiums and locations
edit
Current LDF stadiums
edit| Atlántico FC | Atlético San Cristóbal | Atlético Vega Real |
|---|---|---|
| Estadio Leonel Plácido | Estadio Panamericano | Estadio Olímpico (La Vega) |
| Capacity: 2,000 | Capacity: 3,000 | Capacity: 7,000 |
| Club Atlético Pantoja | Delfines Del Este | Moca FC |
| Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez | Parque del Este | Estadio Complejo Deportivo Moca 86 |
| Capacity: 27,000 | Capacity: 1,200 | Capacity: 2,000 |
| Cibao FC | Universidad O&M FC | |
| Estadio Cibao FC | Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez | |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 27,000 |
References
edit- ^ "CDN Deportes (pagina futbol)". CDN Deportes. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ "Dominican Republic launches professional league". CONCACAF. 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "Banco Popular y la Federación Dominicana de Fútbol firman alianza estratégica" (in Spanish). El Nuevo Diario. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "Liga Mayor de Futbol Republica Dominicana Inicia Hoy Con 12 Equipos".
- ^ "LA LDF 2024 INICIARÁ 8 DE MARZO CON 8 CLUBES". Liga Dominicana de Futbol. Retrieved 31 January 2024.