The Costa Rica women's national football team ( es, Selección femenina de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in women's international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

. The national team is controlled by the governing body

Costa Rican Football Federation The Costa Rican Football Federation ( es, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football tea ...

. They are one of the top women's national football teams in the Central American region along with

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. Since 2010s, Costa Rica has emerged in women's football, and akin to their men's counterparts, its women's side is also visibly recognised as a stern and competitive opponent despite relative recent entrance to the big stage. In Costa Rica's first World Cup in

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, despite being rated the weakest team in the group, Costa Rica shocked the tournament with two points by drawing against strong

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

sides, and was only eliminated by a late goal from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

History

The Costa Rican team just started to play an international match in 1990, when Central America was on struggle about developing women's football. The success of men's team helped the FCF to believe on the women's team. Their first tournament, was the

1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the first staging of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, the international women's association football tournament for North American, Central American and Caribbean nations organized by CONCACAF. The to ...

when Costa Rica finished third and was out from the group stage. Despite this, Costa Rica started gaining success in the

1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the fourth staging of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, the international women's association football tournament for North America, Central America and Caribbean nations organized by CONCACAF. The final ...

and

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

when Costa Rica won bronze both. But later, Costa Rica did not gain much successful achievement, as the national team was still on struggle under the shadow of men's team. At the

2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship, the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship/Gold Cup/Women's World Cup qualifying tournament, was a women's soccer tournament that took place in the United States between 15 and 26 October 2014. It ...

, Costa Rica surprisingly won silver, after losing 0–6 to the USA in the final. Their second-place finish secured them a spot in the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. This marked the first time Costa Rica would play in a

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bod ...

. Costa Rica was drawn into a group with

and

for the

. Costa Rica secured two shocking draws over Spain (1–1) and South Korea (2–2), but then lost 1–0 to Brazil and were eliminated in the group stage. At the

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial international football champion ...

, Costa Rica was hoping to once again qualify for the

. They won their first group match 8–0 over

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. However they lost their second match 1–0 to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

in which they controversially had a goal disallowed in the second half. Costa Rica would lose their final group match to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

3–1, elimating their chances of qualifying for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. I ...

. Costa Rica has done much better in the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the regiona ...

, taking second place after wins over

and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Though unable to repeat the 2014 feat, only finished fourth in process, the win allowed Costa Rica to return to the Women's World Cup in

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Team image

Nicknames

The Costa Rica women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as "" or "".

Home stadium

Costa Rica plays their home matches on the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled. ;Legend

2021

2022

2023

Costa Rica Results and Fixtures – Soccerway.comCosta Rica Results and Fixtures – FIFA.com

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Manager history

* Amelia Valverde (2015–)

Players

Up-to-date caps, goals, and statistics are not publicly available; therefore, caps and goals listed may be incorrect.

Current squad

The following 23 players were named to the squad for the

. ''Caps and goals are updated as of 23 February 2021 after the match against .''

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to a Costa Rica squad in the past 12 months. ''Notes:'' *: Preliminary roster

Previous squads

;FIFA women's World Cup * 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup squad ;CONCACAF W Championship * 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying squad * 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship squad * 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship squad

Records

: :''Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.''

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

:''*Draws include knockout matches decided on

penalty kicks A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

.''