Football in Costa Rica

Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica.^[1][2][3] Costa Rica has long been considered an exporter of footballers within Central America, with 19 players in European professional football leagues during 2006.^[4] The newspaper, La Nación, has prepared an annual census of these "Legionnaires" since 1994.^[5]

Football in Costa Rica
Country	Costa Rica
Governing body	Costa Rican Football Federation
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
First played	1962
National competitions
Liga Fútbol de Primera División Liga de Ascenso Transcomer Segunda B de LINAFA
International competitions
CONCACAF Champions Cup CONCACAF Central American Cup FIFA Club World Cup CONCACAF Gold Cup (National Team) CONCACAF Nations League (National Team) FIFA World Cup (National Team) CONCACAF Women's Championship (National Team) CONCACAF W Gold Cup (National Team) FIFA Women's World Cup (National Team)

Costa Rica and England teams line up for national anthems at Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte during their match at the FIFA World Cup 2014, Brazil.

The main professional league in the country is Costa Rican Primera División run by UNAFUT.^[6] There is a second-tier league, Segunda División de Costa Rica, to which the last team of Primera is relegated after each season, and from which the champion is promoted to Primera. and a third tier league in addition to many amateur players.

Costa Rican players have made significant contributions to other nations' professional leagues, most notably the Mexican Primera Division since it became professional in 1943.^[7] These "Legionnaires" have represented the Costa Rica national football team, which most recently has included several players contracted to clubs outside Costa Rica during its 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.^[8] On 24 June 2014, the Costa Rica team qualified for the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup, topping a group that contained three former World Champions, beating Uruguay 3–1, Italy 1-0 and drawing their final game against England. Victory over Greece on penalties in the knock out stage secured them a place in the quarter-finals. In November 2020, FIFA announced that the Bureau of Council awarded Costa Rica the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which was earlier to be hosted between 20 January and 6 February 2021.^[9]

League system

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Primera División 12 clubs
	↓↑ 1 club
2	Segunda División de Costa Rica 18 clubs divided in 2 series of 9
	↓↑ 1 club
3	Torneo LINAFA 60 clubs divided in 8 series, five of 8 clubs, two of 7 clubs and one of 6 clubs

Stadiums in Costa Rica

Stadium	Country	Capacity	Tenants	Image
Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica	San José	35,062	Costa Rica national football team
Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá	San Juan de Tibás	23,112	Deportivo Saprissa
Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto	Alajuela	17,895	Liga Deportiva Alajuelense
Estadio José Rafael Fello Meza Ivankovich	Cartago	13,500	C.S. Cartaginés
Estadio Edgardo Baltodano Briceño	Liberia	6,500	A.D. Municipal Liberia
Estadio Jorge "Cuty" Monge	Desamparados	5,500	La U Universitarios
Estadio José Joaquin "Colleya" Fonseca	Guadalupe	4,500	Guadalupe F.C.
Estadio Miguel "Lito" Perez	Puntarenas	4,105	Puntarenas F.C.

See also

• Costa Rica national football team
• Lists of stadiums

References

1. "University for Peace". Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
2. "Costa Rica Could Learn From Uruguay's Example". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
3. WSC Daily. "When Saturday Comes - Costa Rica goes crazy for the "team of migrants"". Wsc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
4. "Un país exportador" [An exporting country] (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. 19 August 2006.
5. Calvo C., Rordigo (3 November 2011). "Aporte de la legión llegó a 77 jugadores y técnicos en 2011" (in Spanish). La Nación. Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
6. Tor-Kristian Karlsen. "World Cup 2014: five things you didn't know about Costa Rica". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
7. Montes, Juan Martín (5 September 2012). "Muy pocos, pero los 'Ticos' han dejado huella en México: Medford" (in Spanish). Medio Tiempo.
8. Nieto, Aarón (9 June 2012). "Costa Rica vence a México, al menos en 'europeos'" [Costa Rica beats Mexico, in number of 'Europeans'] (in Spanish). Récord.
9. "Update on FIFA Club World Cup 2020 and women's youth tournaments". FIFA.com. Retrieved 17 November 2020.