Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has long been considered an exporter of footballers within

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. ...

, with 19 players in European professional football leagues during 2006. The newspaper, ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...

'', has prepared an annual census of these "Legionnaires" since 1994. The main professional league in the country is

Costa Rican Primera División 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 ...

run by UNAFUT. There is a second-tier league,

Segunda División de Costa Rica Costa Rican Second Division also known as Liga Motorola for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league formed on 1921 for association football clubs in Costa Rica. It is the country's second-tier/division football competition, which is contest ...

, 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. These "Legionnaires" have represented the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body f ...

, which most recently has included several players contracted to clubs outside Costa Rica during its 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. 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.

League system

Stadiums in Costa Rica

References

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League system

Stadiums in Costa Rica

See also

References