'Very happy' Leeds United star reveals special moment 4,200 miles from Elland Road
Leeds United star Junior Firpo has spoken of his pride after a special moment with his family on the international stage.
The left-back has become the main man for Dominican Republic, where he was born and spent the first six years of his life before moving to Spain where he first played football. Since switching allegiance back to his nation of birth in 2024, Firpo has won 10 caps and scored four international goals. Last year he helped them qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the first major tournament in their history and he did so as captain and the country's highest profile player.
This week he was back in national team action, taking on Puerto Rico on home soil in the second game of a March friendly double header. Firpo scored from the spot in a 2-0 victory to mark his eighth successive win on the international stage but it was made all the more special by the presence of his young family.
The defender's son and daughter were both present at Cibao Football Club Stadium in Santiago de los Caballeros to see their dad dedicate his goal to them. Posting on his Instagram the Leeds man said: "What a special day yesterday, being able to have my family and my children in the field with me representing my country. Feeling the affection of people and being able to dedicate the victory and goal to them makes me very happy. See you in a few months, very nice things are coming, please continue to support us."
Dominican Republic face a pair of World Cup qualifiers in June against Guatemala and Dominica and the Gold Cup is slated for the same month, in America and Canada.
Speaking to the YEP earlier this season Firpo insisted qualification for tournaments was not his only goal when declaring his footballing allegiance to the nation. He said: For me [the Gold Cup] it's gonna mean something really good, because when I took the decision to join Dominican Republic, it wasn't because of anything else [other] than things like that, just to be the first name in history, in that group of players, to do these type of things.
"My aim is not just a Gold Cup or League A of the Nations League. My aim is bigger than that, it's trying to get the country into a bigger stage of football. Dominican Republic is well known for baseball, even for volleyball, beach volleyball for the girls, but for football it is not well known.
"Because I'm the biggest player in the country, the first player ever to do every record, the only one who was born there to play in the Premier League, LaLiga, Champions League, everything, I just wanted to bring this to the national team, and to try to push them, to try to make them better, more professional. A lot of federations over there, they are not as professional as the football here in Europe. So I'm basically like an ambassador for the country, trying to help them to be the best that they can be."
Firpo is in for an interesting summer with his club future still up in the air and a contract that comes to a close at the end of June. When he sat down with the YEP in November he was completely unaware of the club's thoughts on his future but said that if he was to bid farewell he wanted it to be in style with a promotion. So far this season the left-back has added three goals and nine assists for the promotion cause.
"Football is like that," he said. "One day you are here, another day you are there. But this is the topic that I've been discussing with myself since we got relegated. Obviously, I could have done the same [as others who left], I could have gone away. I have my options, I think everyone knows, it's not a thing that I can hide. I had my options and I could go away, but as you say, my family is settled here. We are doing really good at the moment, but we don't know what the future will say for me.
I don't know even what Leeds want to do with me. I don't know yet. We haven't had this conversation yet. The manager hasn't had this conversation yet with me.
"I think we are just focusing at the moment in playing every game, winning every game, win as many games as possible, and get us promoted. This is the target. And if I have to leave after the season, at least Leeds are going to be in the Premier League."