Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela,

Alajuela province Alajuela () is a Provinces of Costa Rica, 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 Province, Heredia to the east, San Jose Province, ...

. 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team. It plays in the Primera División de Costa Rica, the top tier of the Costa Rican football league system. Alajuelense is one of two clubs to have never been relegated, along with Herediano. 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 northeastern coast of 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 c ...

'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 is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, having won 30 national championships, 2

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

titles, 1

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The compet ...

, 2

CONCACAF Central American Cup The CONCACAF Central American Cup () is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top regional tournament for clubs from Central America. It serves as a qualification method for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. ...

, 3

UNCAF Interclub Cup The UNCAF Interclub Cup was an annual international football competition held in the Union Centroamericana de Fútbol, UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each n ...

and 1 Campeonato Centroamericano y Caribe. Alajuelense was the first Costa Rican club to win an official international competition when they defeated Suranamese club Transvaal in the final series in 1986. Alajuelense has also participated in the

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

, Copa Merconorte, and

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. 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 A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

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, Herediano, and Cartaginés. It has contributed many key and famous players towards

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

squads such as José Carlos Chaves, Óscar Ramírez, Mauricio Montero, Wilmer López, Luis Marín, Jhonny Acosta, and Patrick Pemberton.

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

, back in 1921, along with La Libertad, Gimnástica Española, Herediano, 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 Copa Interclubes UNCAF Trophies and a CONCACAF Club Championship, 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 Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, with 9 players. By November 11, 2000, and after participating in the Copa Merconorte, 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. On 2023, Alajuelense participated on the 2023 CONCACAF Central American Cup, and they would advance to quarter-finals after being leaders on the Group D. They would face Cartaginés, that they would defeat 6–1 on aggregate, advancing to semifinals, where they would face Herediano, defeating them 5–4 on penalties after a 4–4 aggregate draw. In the final, they would face Real Estelí, but they would defeat them easily after a 4–1 victory on aggregate, being the first champions of the CONCACAF Central American Cup, and qualifying directly for the round of 16 of the

2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup The 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup was the 59th season of the North, Central America, and the Caribbean's premier club Association football, football tournament organized by CONCACAF, and the first since it was rebranded as the CONCACAF Champions Cu ...

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 Alajuela. 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 The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five (banks), Big Five banks, it is the ...

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, 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 and Lioness 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

* Primera División de Costa Rica ** 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, Verano 2011, Invierno 2011, Invierno 2012. Invierno 2013, Apertura 2020, ** Runners-up (30): 1930, 1928, 1944, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2006–07, Verano 2008, Invierno 2008, Verano 2014, Verano 2015, Invierno 2015, Verano 2016, Apertura 2019, Clausura 2020, Clausura 2022, Clausura 2023, Clausura 2024, Apertura 2024 * Torneo de Copa de Costa Rica ** Champions (12): 1926, 1928, 1937, 1941, 1944, 1948, 1953, 1949, 1974, 1977, 2023, 2025 ** Runners-up (3): 1938, 1947, 1956 * Supercopa de Costa Rica ** Champions (1): 2012 ** Runners-up (1): 2021 * Recopa de Costa Rica ** Champions (2): 1967, 2024

International

Intercontinental

** Runners-up (1): 1986

Continental

** Champions (2): 1986,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

** Runners-up (3):

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

** Champions (1):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

** Runners-up (1):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* Campeonato Centroamericano y Caribe ** Champions (1):

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Regional

** Champions (2):

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* Torneo Grandes de Centroamérica/Copa Interclubes UNCAF ** Champions (3):

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

** Runners-up (2):

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Friendly

* Torneo Relámpago de Fútbol de Costa Rica: 1944, 1945 * Cuadrangular Antonio Escarré: 1964 * KLM Cup: 1994 * Torneo 90 Minutos por la Vida: 2003, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024 * Copa de las Américas: 2004 * Superclásico de Costa Rica: 2012, 2013 2014, 2015

Awards

* CONCACAF League Fair Play: 2020, 2022

Performance in CONCACAF competitions

* CONCACAF Champions Cup/League: 26 appearances ::

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

– Second round (quarter-finals) ::

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

– First round ::

– ''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 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

– Third round (quarter-finals) :: 1986 – Champion :: 1988 – Semi-finals ::

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

– Third round (quarter-finals) ::

– ''Finalist'' ::

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

– Second round (quarter-finals) ::

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

– Third place ::

– Second round ::

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

– 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– Quarter-finals ::

– ''Finalist'' ::

– Quarter-finals ::

– Semi-finals ::

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

– Quarter-finals ::

– Champion ::

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

– Semi-finals :: 2008-09 – First round :: 2011–12 – Group stage :: 2012–13 – Group stage :: 2013–14 – Semi-finals :: 2014–15 – Semi-finals ::

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

– Round of 16 ::

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

– Round of 16 *

: 4 appearances ::

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

– First round ::

– Champion ::

– First round ::

– Finalist *

: 2 appearances ::

– Champion ::

– Champion

Recent seasons

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

Player records

, -

Players

Current squad

''As of 3 February 2025''

Out on loan

Retired numbers

20 – Mauricio Montero, defender (1987–98)

Historical list of coaches

* Carlos Watson *

Luis Diego Arnaez Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish language, Spanish form of the originally Germanic language, Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese language, Portuguese and G ...

* Andrés Carevic (20 Nov 2022 - 7 March 2024) * Alexandre Guimarães (12 March 2024 - 17 April 2025) * Óscar Ramírez (18 April 2025 - )

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alajuelense Association football clubs established in 1919 Football clubs in Costa Rica 1919 establishments in Costa Rica CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning clubs CONCACAF League winning clubs UNCAF Interclub Cup winning clubs

History

Stadium

Mascot

Sponsors

Honours

National

International

Intercontinental

Continental

Regional

Friendly

Awards

Performance in CONCACAF competitions

Recent seasons

Player records

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Historical list of coaches

Notes

References

External links