Rolando Fonseca Jiménez (born 6 June 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Nicknamed ''El Principito'' (The little prince)''

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 (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'
"Nuevo Estadio Nacional: Joya del Deporte Costarricense"
p. 30. 15 March 2011. Retrieved on 26 May 2013. and ''El Rolo'', Fonseca usually played just off the main striker and was renowned for his ability to create opportunities for his teammates and his fierce long shot. With 47 goals, Fonseca is the Costa Rica national team's all-time top goalscorer.

Club career

Fonseca played for

Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, is a professional association football, football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, Liga Nacional, th ...

in Guatemala,

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club (association football), football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their ...

and

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

in Colombia,

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

and

La Piedad La Piedad is a municipality located at in the north-west of the Mexican state of Michoacán, bordering Jalisco and Guanajuato and being the northernmost municipality in Michoacán. The municipal seat is the city of La Piedad de Cabadas. The o ...

in Mexico, as well as having home spells with

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. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

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, Al ...

and

Municipal Liberia Asociación Deportiva Municipal Liberia is a Costa Rican football team playing in the Liga FPD. The team is based in Liberia, Guanacaste. Their home stadium is the Estadio Edgardo Baltodano Briceño. History Founded on 7 June 1977, four year ...

. In Costa Rica, he played a total of 271 games, scoring over 100 goals, between the league's two best teams, Saprissa and Alajuelense. His debut was with

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...

, on 1 June 1991, against ASODELI, and scored his first goal against San Carlos on 28 August.Calvo, Rodrigo
"El Buzón de Rodrigo"
''La Nación'', 16 April 2001. Retrieved on 26 May 2001. He also won Costa Rican championships in 1993–94, 1994–95 (Saprissa), and 1996–97, 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2004–05 (Alajuelense), adding three

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 ...

s in 1993, 1995 (Saprissa), and 2004 (Alajuelense).Rodríguez, José Luis
"Rolando Fonseca ya tiene 22 títulos"
. ''La Nación'', 21 December 2010. Retrieved on 26 May 2013. Outside Costa Rica, Fonseca won league titles with Comunicaciones in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, and 2010, and with América de Cali in 1997. After solid performances with Alajuelense and the national team, Fonseca received offers in 2007 from China, Chile, Turkey and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, but finally settled, as co-owner, player and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Although he was having a great season, he left the project a few days before finishing the ''

Apertura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

'' tournament, apparently due to personal issues and some differences with then co-owner Mario Sotela. Rumors surfaced that Fonseca would return to Alajuelense, but they were all quickly discarded. After failed negotiations with Brujas, Fonseca returned to Comunicaciones, a team he had already represented on two other spells, remaining as one of side's best imports ever. Fonseca retired in January 2011, but a year and seven months later, he made his return to professional football by joining

Asociación Deportiva Carmelita Asociación Deportiva Carmelita is a Costa Rican football team playing in the Segunda División. The team is based in Barrio El Carmen, Alajuela, Costa Rica and their home stadium is Rafael Bolaños Stadium in El Coyol, Alajuela History El Car ...

on 19 August 2012. After three matches with Carmelita, he was released in September 2012. Coach Orlando de León cited that Fonseca has been busy with his other activities besides football.

International career

Fonseca has also been a fixture on the Costa Rica national team since 1992. He played in more than 100 internationals, and is currently the nation's all-time scorer, with 47 goals.Passo Alpuin, Luis Fernando
"Rolando Fonseca Jiménez – Century of International Appearances"
''

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

'', 6 April 2011. Retrieved on 26 May 2013. Fonseca earned his first cap at the age of 17 on 27 May 1992, in a friendly match against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. By November of that year, he appeared in a 1994 World Cup qualifier against

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

, the first of his five World Cup qualifying campaigns for Costa Rica. The following year saw Fonseca's first international goal, which came on 9 March in an UNCAF Nations Cup match against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. By late 1996, Fonseca had become a regular in the national team, playing four World Cup qualifiers in the fall. He scored a hat trick against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in the

1997 UNCAF Nations Cup This page details the 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup, played in Guatemala. Squads :For a complete list of all participating squads see ''UNCAF Nations Cup 1997 squads'' Preliminary round Participating teams 6 Central American Football Union, UNCA ...

, the first of three in his international career. He earned a call to the squad for the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

in Bolivia, but he appeared only in the first-round match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

as the team lost all three group games. At the turn of the millennium, Fonseca was entering the highest-scoring stretch of his international career; he scored eight times for Costa Rica in 1999, six times in 2000, and twelve times in 2001. During the same period, Costa Rica rose fast in CONCACAF, finishing in first place in World Cup qualifying. At the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

, Fonseca appeared in all four matches and scored against

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, as the Costa Ricans won their first-round group with a team that also included

Paulo César Wanchope Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican people, Costa Rican football coach and former professional association football, footballer who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa. A ...

Walter Centeno Wálter Centeno Corea (born 6 October 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and current manager of Santos de Guapiles. He was a regular member of the Costa Rica national team and holds th ...

, and

Hernán Medford Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan ( , ; born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican former football player and current coach of Deportivo Marquense. Highly regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Central American football, Medford ...

. Fonseca played in two games for the team at the

2002 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 ...

, appearing in the first-round matches against China and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Fonseca remained in the national team after the World Cup, playing in the

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with ga ...

and scoring twice against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, but he was limited to only one cap in 2004 and two in 2005. He was excluded from the

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

squad selected by

Alexandre Guimarães Alexandre Henrique Borges Guimarães (born 7 November 1959) is a Costa Rican football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the currently a free agent. Club career Early career Guimarães was born on 7 November 1959 i ...

. Upon the appointment of former teammate Medford as national coach, however, Fonseca returned to the national team in early 2007. He appeared only once for Costa Rica during the two-year span after the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from J ...

, but he was recalled late in 2009 for the last stages of World Cup qualifying by coach

René Simões René Rodrigues Simões (born 17 December 1952) is a Brazilian former professional football manager. Coaching career Born in Rio de Janeiro, he guided Jamaica national team to the World Cup in France in 1998. This was Jamaica's first, and t ...

. Fonseca played his final competitive international match in the intercontinental playoff match against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

on 18 November 2009, coming off the bench for the last 26 minutes. His 47th and last international goal came against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, in a spectacular strike with his back to the goal, which also meant the number 1000 for Costa Rica in international matches. The all-time top scorer in the

UNCAF Nations Cup The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

with 19 goals, Fonseca was voted the tournament's best player in 1999, adding five goals. On 26 March 2011, Rolando Fonseca played in the first game of the new Costa Rican Estadio Nacional against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He substituted

Álvaro Saborío Álvaro Alberto Saborío Chacón (; born 25 March 1982) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer, who played as a forward. Saborío originally retired in 2017 but returned months later. A full international for Costa Rica since 2002, S ...

in the 78th minute. This was his last game with the Costa Rica national football team, as he retired from international play as Costa Rica's all-time leading scorer.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fonseca goal''.

Honours

Saprissa *

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

**Winner: 1989, 1993–94, 1994–95 **Runner-up: 1991, 1992 *

**Winner:

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 ...

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 ...

Alajuelense *

**Winner: 1996–97, 2004–05 *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Comunicaciones *

Liga Nacional de Guatemala Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

: 1998–99, 1999–00 Apertura, Apertura 2008, Apertura 2010–2011 *

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 ...

Costa Rica *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

runner-up:

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

**Winner:

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 ...

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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

**Runner-up:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Individual *UNCAF Nations Cup All-star team:

References

External links