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 () is a district in the Alajuela canton of the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Alajuela canton, it is awarded the status of city. By virtue of being the city of the first canton of the province, it i ...

Alajuela province Alajuela () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north. It also borders the provinces of Heredia to the east, San José to the south, Puntarenas to the southwest and ...

. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Alajuelense is mostly known for its

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team. It plays in the

Primera División de Costa Rica The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

, the top tier of the Costa Rican football league system. Alajuelense is one of two clubs to have never been relegated, along with

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 ...

. Alajuelense was founded on the former Paris Hall, west of Alajuela's Central Park, on June 18, 1919, by six former players of a historic city club, ''Once de Abril'', with the intention of uniting all the sportsmen and associations present at that time in Alajuela under a single banner. However, it wouldn't be until 1928 when Alajuelense managed to become national champions for the first time in a season that saw the club's first star: Alejandro Morera. Morera, who would later go on to become

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

's main striker for two seasons, is regarded as one of the finest players Costa Rica has ever produced. He would later manage Alajuelense to their second national title in 1939 as well as two others in 1941 and 1945. Since then, Alajuelense has become one of the most supported football clubs in Costa Rica. Alajuelense is one of the most successful teams in Costa Rica and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, having won 30 national championships. They have also won two CONCACAF Champions League titles, one

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

, and three

Copa Interclubes UNCAF The UNCAF Club Tournament was an annual international football competition held in the UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each national league qualified automa ...

. Alajuelense was the first Costa Rican club to win an official international competition when they defeated Suranamese club

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

in the final series in 1986. Alajuelense has also participated in the

Interamerican Cup The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited in ...

, and Copa Sudamericana. In 1996, Alajuelense became the first club in the world to reach 100 points in any national league, finishing with a total of 102 points. This feat was repeated in 1998 and 2000 with 105 and 102 points gained, respectively. Alajuelense plays its home matches at the

Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto The Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto is a football stadium in ''El Llano'' neighborhood of Alajuela, Costa Rica, which is the home of Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, one of the most successful football clubs from Costa Rica. It also serves as the home g ...

. Alajuelense's home kit is composed of red and black vertical striped shirts, with black shorts, accompanied by red or black socks. This combination has been used since the club's foundation. Kelme are the kit manufacturers. Alajuelense holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably against

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

, and Cartaginés. It has contributed many key and famous players towards Costa Rica's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

squads such as

José Carlos Chaves José Carlos Chaves Innecken (born 3 September 1958) is a retired Costa Rican football player who played for Alajuelense. Club career After spending a year at a high school in Ohio and some time in the youth teams of Saprissa, Chaves joined Ala ...

, Óscar Ramírez,

Mauricio Montero Mauricio Antonio Montero Chinchilla (born 19 October 1963 in Costa Rica) is a retired Costa Rican footballer. Nicknamed ''El Chunche'' (The Thing), Montero is widely known for his humble origins, which molded his behavior and charisma. His coll ...

Wilmer López Wilmer or Wilmers may refer to: Places *Wilmer, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community * Wilmer, Louisiana, United States, an unincorporated hamlet *Wilmer, Texas, United States, a city *Wilmer, British Columbia, Canada, a settlemen ...

, Luis Marín,

Jhonny Acosta Jhonny Acosta Zamora (born 21 July 1983) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Costa Rica national team. Club career Acosta made his professional debut for Santos de Guápiles in the 2004/05 season and left ...

, and

Patrick Pemberton Patrick Alberto Pemberton Bernard (born 24 April 1982) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career Pemberton started his career at Alajuelense but made his league debut for Carmelita on 11 September 2004 aga ...

History

The team was created in 1919 when a group of friends that used to play in a team called the "Electra" at first and then "Once de Abril" (April the 11th) met at "Salon París". They wanted to give the city a team that could represent them at a national level. They played their first official game on August 2 of that same year against Cartaginés getting their first victory, 3–1. Alejandro Morera Soto

Alajuelense was part of the 7 teams that built and formed the National League in Costa Rica, back in 1921, along with La Libertad, Gimnástica Española,

, Cartaginés, CS Tres Rios de La Union, and Sociedad Gimnástica Limonense. They won their first championship in 1928. They are the only team to win the championship with a perfect record; in 1941 they won all 6 games. In 1960, the team made a tour around the world, leaving Costa Rica on September 17. In 78 days, the team played 24 games, winning 12, losing seven and drawing five. They scored 71 goals and allowed 47, with a remarkable performance from Juan Ulloa Ramírez, the best player and top scorer of this tour. Throughout their history, Alajuelense has generated a lot of great players and stunning performances. They are known as one of the best teams in the Central America area. Their best decade was the 1990s, during which they won 4 Championships and 4 sub-championships (runner up) as well. In addition to that, by the end of the 90's and the middle of the 2000s, they won a total of 5 local championships (4 of them in a row), 2

Throphies and a CONCACAF Club Champions, being the base for the Costa Rican football team in the Korea and Japan

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 ...

, with 9 players. By November 11, 2000, and after participating in the

, Alajuelense was ranked 27th in

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

's Club World Ranking. It is the best rank any Central American club has reached. The club struggled with financial and administrative problems in the second part on the 2000s decade, so they decided to end contract with a lot of their regular and known players and started to build a team based on their younger divisions and make some structural changes. Nowadays the club is free of debts and with a team averaging 25-year-old players is still one of the best teams in the area and one of the teams with most fans in Costa Rica. On June 10, 2019, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary, being the second Costa Rican team to do so.

Stadium

The Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto is the home of Alajuelense and is owned and operated by La Liga Deportiva Alajuelense. It is located in ''El Llano'' neighborhood of

. On July 20, 1966, due to a motion by the Municipality of Alajuela, the stadium was renamed in honor of Alejandro Morera, nicknamed ''el mago del balón'', which means ''the magician of the ball''. He was a notable former player of Alajuelense,

, and Hércules, and for commercial purposes, in an agreement with the financial institution Scotiabank in 2011, the name Scotiabank was added. Morera-Soto-lda

The project to find a proper site for a permanent home started in 1938, when the director of the club, Carlos Bolaños, proposed that the club should purchase its own land. The land was purchased on October 7, 1940, but the terrain would not be football-ready until when the first game was played on January 18, 1942, when Alajuelense played against Cartaginés; the stadium only had a simple wooden stand that was previously used in the Estadio Nacional. On September 27, 1949, a professor from a local high school named Armando Morux Sancho started what was called ''La marcha del ladrillo'', meaning ''The March of Bricks'' in which every student would donate a brick to help build the walls and stands of the stadium. The first stands to be built were located in north, west and east around the pitch. On March 19, 1970, the stadium saw its first night game when Alajuelense faced Honduran club

Motagua The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the ...

, beating them 4–1. In 1979, the enlargement of the stadium was initiated with the project of building a second stand on top of the existing stand and adding an additional stand over the dressing and conference rooms (south) and also adding a roof to the stands located to the east and the south. The project was fully completed in 1984. The stadium was re-inaugurated that year along with the new illuminations, which were amongst the best illuminations systems at the time. On 8 April 2021, the team announced plans for a new stadium, with an expected opening by January 2025.

Mascot

The team is now represented by a Lion dressed with the team uniform and wearing cleats as if he was going to play. In every home game, the mascot comes out at the pitch before the game starts and plays on the field with fans, jokes with rival's fans, walk through the pitch with models giving away gifts from their sponsors and cheers the team with a huge team's flag. Before the game starts and during the half-time break, the Lion walks among the crowd and stands for pictures with the children. The original mascot used to be a Mango, this because the team is located in Alajuela that is known as "La Ciudad de los Mangos" ("The Mangoes' City") because of the high amount of Mango Trees that could be located in the province due its weather, but later on in the early 80's, the mascot was changed into a Lion. The Lion was chosen years ago because it represents four main attributes of the major king of the jungle, that are reflected on the team's vision and mission: Courage, Strength, Dynamism and Fidelity.

Honours

National

:Champions (30): 1928, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1991, 1992, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, Invierno 2010–11, Verano 2010–11, Invierno 2011–12, Invierno 2012–13. Invierno 2013–14, Invierno 2020–21. :Runners-up (24): 1930, 1928, 1944, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2006–07, 2007–08, Invierno 2008–09 Verano 2014, Verano 2015, Invierno 2015, Verano 2016. * Costa Rican Cup :Champion (10): 1926, 1928, 1937, 1941, 1944, 1948, 1949, 1967, 1974, 1977. :Runner-up (2): 1938, 1947. * Costa Rican Super Cup :Champion (1): 2012. *Costa Rican Short Championships :Champion (9): 1997-1998, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2004-2005. :Runner-up (4): 2006-2007,1997-1998, 2005-2006, 2006-2007. * Friendly & other tournaments: :2012, 2013: Copa Ibérico, against Saprissa :2014, 2015: Super Clásico, against Saprissa :1944, 1945: Torneos Relámpagos Fútbol

International

* CONCACAF Champions' Cup: :Champion (2):

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, 2004 :Runners-up (3): 1971, 1992,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

: :Champion (1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

: 1 appearance :Runners-up (1):

* UNCAF Club Championship: 17 appearances :Champion (3): 1996, 2002, 2005 :Runners-up (2):

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

*Central American Champions :Champion (2): 1988, 1992. *Central American & Caribbean Champions :Champion (1): 1961 * Friendly & other tournaments: :1994: KLM Cup, against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

:2004: Copa Taca de Campeon de Campeones de America, against

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium. They were the surprise winne ...

(former Copa Libertadores Champion) *CONCACAF League Fair Play: ::Winners (1): 2020

Performance in CONCACAF competitions

* CONCACAF Champions League: 25 appearances ::

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

– Second Round (Quarter-finals) ::

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

– First Round :: 1971 – ''Finalist'' ::

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

– Third Round (Quarter-finals) ::

– Champion ::

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

– Semi-finals ::

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

– Third Round (Quarter-finals) :: 1992 – ''Finalist'' ::

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

– Second Round (Quarter-finals) ::

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

– Third Place :: 1996 – Second Round ::

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

– Second Round ::

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

– Quarter-finals ::

– ''Finalist'' ::

– Quarter-finals :: 2002 – Semi-finals :: 2003 – Quarter-finals :: 2004 – Champion :: 2006 – Semi-finals :: 2008-09 – First Round :: 2011–12 – Group Stage ::

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

– Group Stage :: 2013–14 – Semi-finals :: 2014–15 – Semi-finals ::

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

– Round of 16 *

: 4 appearances ::

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

– First Round ::

– Champion ::

– First Round ::

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

– Finalist

Recent seasons

Below are listed the club's history performances in national compétition.

Player records

, -

Current squad

As of November 11, 2022

Notable players

Retired numbers

20 –

, defender (1987–98)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alajuelense Association football clubs established in 1919 Football clubs in Costa Rica 1919 establishments in Costa Rica A A A