Álvaro Mesén Murillo (born December 24, 1972) is a retired Costa Rican

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Club career

Upon club legend Alejandro González Rojas's retirement in September 1990, then-sixteen years old Álvaro Mesén was called upon to the

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

senior team to backfill the third-choice goalkeeper position, behind the more experienced pair of Desiderio Calvo and Paul Mayorga; however upon the signing of former Herediano goalkeeper José Alexis Rojas in early 1991, Mesén was sent back to the youth teams. Rojas's signing had the purpose of adding experience to Alajuelense's door, which was lacking upon González's retirement as Mayorga and Calvo only started a handful of games in the past two seasons, and neither one of them could keep the other's faults in check. Mesén made his league debut for Carmelita on 6 March 1993 against TurrialbaÁlvaro Mesén en datos
- Nación during the 1992-93 season
- Nación before heading back to parent club Alajuelense ahead of the 1993-94 season. Mesén eventually became an understudy to Rojas who was the first-choice goalkeeper, and rose to first-choice keeper himself ahead of the 1997-98 season, when Rojas's career ended at Alajuelense as a result of being on the receiving end of an eight-match ban (as he was involved in a post-match brawl after a match against Saprissa in June 1997--Mesén also was involved in said brawl but received a minor ban), causing the Alajuelense's Board of Directors to show him the door as Rojas was going to be unavailable for six matches (having served two on the 1996-97 season's finals). He went on to play 207 league games for ''Liga'', scoring one goal, a penalty in the 1999-2000 season. He also played for

Herediano Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...

and Brujas before finishing his career at Liberia Mía, after joining them in 2007.

International career

Mesén made his debut for Costa Rica in a November 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and earned a total of 38 caps, scoring no goals. He represented his country in 15 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and was a non-playing squad member at the 2002 and

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

s. He also played at the

2003 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup was an association football tournament. It was held in two venues in Panama in February 2003, and was played in a round robin tournament, each of the 6 teams playing each other once. Costa Rica won their record fourt ...

as well as at the 2002, 2003 and

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious ...

s. He also was a non-playing squad member at the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. His final international was a May 2006 friendly match against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. He has also become known for his activism, having been appointed as a FIFA ambassador in 2001 and supporting the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

''Global March Against Child Labour'' campaign.

Retirement

After retiring in 2010, Mesén became the new secretary-general of Fedefutbol in September 2012. He has a master's degree in business administration. He resigned from Fedefutbol in February 2013.Álvaro Mesén renunció a su cargo en la FEDEFUTBOL
- CR Hoy

References

External links

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- Nación {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesen, Alvaro 1972 births Living people People from Alajuela Association football goalkeepers Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players A.D. Carmelita footballers Liga FPD players L.D. Alajuelense footballers C.S. Herediano footballers Brujas FC players Municipal Liberia footballers Copa Centroamericana-winning players