Costa Rica national football team

Costa Rica

Nickname(s)	Los Ticos (The Ticos) La Sele (The Selection) La Tricolor (The Tricolor)
Association	Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (FCRF)[1]
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation	UNCAF (Central America)
Head coach	Gustavo Alfaro
Captain	Francisco Calvo
Most caps	Celso Borges (163)
Top scorer	Rolando Fonseca (47)
Home stadium	Estadio Nacional
FIFA code	CRC
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	52 2 (4 April 2024)[2]
Highest	13 (February–March 2015)
Lowest	93 (July 1996)
First international
Costa Rica 7–0 El Salvador  (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 14 September 1921)
Biggest win
Costa Rica 12–0 United States  (Barranquilla, Colombia; 10 December 1946)
Biggest defeat
Mexico 7–0 Costa Rica  (Mexico City, Mexico; 17 August 1975)  Spain 7–0 Costa Rica  (Doha, Qatar; 23 November 2022)
World Cup
Appearances	6 (first in 1990)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2014)
CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup
Appearances	22 (first in 1963)
Best result	Champions (1963, 1969, 1989)
Nations League Finals
Appearances	1 (first in 2021)
Best result	Fourth place (2021)
Copa América
Appearances	6 (first in 1997)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2001, 2004)
Medal record CONCACAF Gold Cup 1963 El Salvador Team 1969 Costa Rica Team 1989 North America Team 2002 United States Team 1965 Guatemala Team 1971 Trinidad and Tobago Team 1985 North America Team 1993 North America Team Copa Centroamericana 1991 Costa Rica Team 1997 Guatemala Team 1999 Cost Rica Team 2003 Panama Team 2005 Guatemala Team 2007 El Salvador Team 2013 Costa Rica Team 2014 United States Team 1993 Honduras Team 2001 Honduras Team 2009 Honduras Team 2011 Panama Team

The Costa Rica national football team (Spanish: 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 for football in Costa Rica. It has been a member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 1927, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) since 1961, and a member of the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) since 1990.

Costa Rica is the most successful national football team from the region of Central America, winning three CONCACAF Championships (1963, 1969, 1989) and leading the Copa Centroamericana tournament with four championships up until 2017, when it was absorbed into the CONCACAF Nations League. Costa Rica is the only national team in Central America to have played in six FIFA World Cup editions. Costa Rica's national football team has the all-time highest average Football Elo Ranking in Central America with 1597.1, and the all-time highest Football Elo Ranking in Central America, with 1806 in 2014.

Since the late 1980s, the team has continuously been visible as a solidly competitive side and has been widely considered to be the second or third best team in the CONCACAF, with a prominent performance in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, making it to the knockout stage in their debut after finishing second in their group during the first phase, below Brazil. They also qualified for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. In 2014, Costa Rica achieved their best performance in history by finishing first in their group that consisted of three former World Cup champions: Uruguay, Italy, and England. During the round 16 they defeated Greece 5–3 via a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw. Moreover, during their match against the Greek team, Keylor Navas saved more than 15 shots. They reached the quarter-finals for the first time but were defeated by the Netherlands, also in a penalty shoot-out (3–4) after a scoreless draw on 5 July.^[4][5] Both their 2018 and 2022 World Cup campaigns ended in a fourth place group stage exit, with their only points coming from a 2–2 draw against Switzerland in 2018 and a 1–0 win over Japan in 2022.