Liga Deportiva Alajuelense

Full name	Liga Deportiva Alajuelense
Nickname(s)	La Liga (The League) Los Leones (The Lions)
Founded	June 18, 1919 (1919-06-18)
Ground	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela
Capacity	17,895
President	Fernando Ocampo
Head coach	Luis Diego Arnáez
League	Liga FPD
2016–17	Apertura 2017: 5th Clausura 2018: 3rd (Second stage: 2nd) Overall: 4th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈliɣa ðepoɾˈtiβa alaxwe´lense]), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (Spanish pronunciation: [la ´liɣa]), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Alajuelense is mostly known for its association football 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's main striker for two seasons, is regarded as possibly the finest player 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 the most supported club in Costa Rica, with its fans constituting close to 46% of the total amount of football fans in the country.

Alajuelense is one of the most successful teams in Costa Rica and Central America, having won 29 national championships. They have also won two CONCACAF Champions League titles and three Copa Interclubes UNCAF. 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 Interamerican Cup, Copa Merconorte 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. 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. Puma 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 Costa Rica's FIFA World Cup squads such as José Carlos Chaves, Óscar Ramírez, Mauricio Montero, Wilmer López, Luis Marín, Johnny 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.

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, 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.^[1] 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 7 and the other 5 ended up tied. They scored 71 goals and received 47, with a remarkable performance from Juan Ulloa Ramírez, being the best player and top scorer of this tour.

Throughout their history, Liga Deportiva 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 Throphies and a CONCACAF Club Champions, being the base for the Costa Rican football team in the Korea and Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup, with 9 players.

By November 11, 2000^[2] and after participating in the Copa Merconorte, Alajuelense was ranked in the 27th spot, based on IFFHS's Club World Ranking. It has been the best rank by the team and the best any other Central American club have reached.

The club struggled with some 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. They have won the last 3 championships in its country and participated in the last CONCACAF Champions League being eliminated in the group stage for just one away goal.

Stadium

The Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto is the home of Alajuelense and is owned and operated by La Liga Deportiva Alajuelense. It's 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 Balon, which means The magician of the ball. He was a notable former player of Alajuelense, Barcelona and Hércules, and for commercial purposes, in an agreement with the financial institution Scotiabank in 2011 it was added the name "Scotiabank".^[3]

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.

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.

Sponsors

• Jersey supplier

Manufacter	Period	Sponsor
Jugados	1986 - 1996	Punto Rojo
Nike	1996 - 1998	Mutual Alajuela
Atletica	1998 - 2000
Jugados	2000 - 2007	LG
Puma	2008 - 2009
	2010 - 2011	Sony
	2012 - 2015	Movistar
	2016	Movistar Banco General
	2017	Claro Volaris
Kelme	2018 - present	Claro Toyota Mobil

• Jersey sponsors

Claro – Tuasa – Repretel – Tesoro del Mar – Toyota - Volaris

• Youth Division sponsors

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica – Coca-Cola

Honors

Player Records

Most appearances (as of December 11, 2017)[15] # Name Career Apps Goals 1 Wilmer López 1993–07 478 80 2 Luis Marín 1993–11* 451 17 3 Harold Wallace 1995–08 424 4 Mauricio Montero 1987–98 408 5 Álvaro Solano 1978–91 396 73 6 Luis Diego Arnáez 1993–05 390 76 7 Javier Delgado 1990-03* 377 8 Pablo Gabas 2003-17* 333 61 9 Joaquín Guillén 1987–98 331 10 Richard Smith 1988–98 315 44

Most goals # Player Career Apps Goals 1 Errol Daniels 1964–72 168 196 2 Juan Ulloa 1954–62 89 3 Roy Sáenz 1969–75 84 4 Jonathan McDonald 2011-17* 174 92 5 Wilmer López 1993–07 478 80 6 Álvaro Solano 1978–91 396 73 7 Josef Miso 1995–03 208 72 8 Javier Jiménez 1972-84* 71 9 Óscar Cordero 1969-78 68 10 Juan Gámez 1959-74 66

Players

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Patrick Pemberton (Captain) 18 GK Mauricio Vargas 33 GK Adonis Pineda 4 DF Kenner Gutiérrez 6 DF José Salvatierra 32 DF Darío Alfaro 3 DF Esteban Marín 2 DF Orlando Galo 30 DF Kurt Frederick 14 DF Christopher Meneses 17 MF Jake Beckford 25 MF Luis Sequeira

No. Position Player 5 MF Luis Garrido 22 MF José Miguel Cubero 7 MF Freddy Álvarez 10 MF José Luis Cordero 12 MF Pablo Gabas 16 MF Allen Guevara 19 FW Jonathan McDonald (Vicecaptain) 9 FW Abdiel Arroyo 34 FW Bryan Jiménez 28 FW Barlon Sequeira 23 FW Yuaycell Wright 21 FW Roger Rojas

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player FW Alonso Martínez (at Palmares) FW Erick Barahona (at Palmares) DF Mario Ramírez (at Palmares) GK Miguel Ajú (at Municipal Santa Ana) DF Diego Mesén (at Municipal Santa Ana) DF Daniel Villegas (at Municipal Santa Ana) DF Jurgen Román (at Municipal Santa Ana) MF Jordi Matarrita (at Municipal Santa Ana)

No. Position Player FW Jean Carlo Innecken (at Municipal Santa Ana) FW Axel Chavarría (at Municipal Santa Ana) FW José Alvarado (at Municipal Santa Ana) MF Harry Rojas (at Municipal Grecia) MF Roberto Córdoba (at Municipal Grecia) MF Eduardo Juárez (at Guadalupe)

Personnel

Current technical staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Luis Diego "El Flaco" Arnaez
Assistant manager	Wílmer López
Medical Doctor	Alfredo Gómez
Physical Trainer	Nicolás Dos Santos
Physical Therapist	Fabián Calvo
Props	Walter Rodríguez Mario Chávez

Last updated: 31 December 2017
Source: LD Alajuelense