33·Legends

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Costa Rica

The thirty-three greatest. Build your eleven, then settle the duels.

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The 33 of Costa Rica

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90 Keylor Navas 127 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, Real Madrid Club de FútbolTen men and level with Greece on 29 June 2014, Costa Rica went to a shootout, and Navas pushed away Theofanis Gekas's penalty, one of three man of the match awards he took that summer. Three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid in 2016, 2017 and 2018 lead the honours, followed by La Liga in 2016-17, four Club World Cups, three Ligue 1 titles at Paris Saint-Germain and 127 Costa Rica caps. GK2014–18

85 Bryan Ruiz 147 caps · 29 goals · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, FulhamA header on 44 minutes in Recife, 20 June 2014, beat Italy 1-0 and left Costa Rica top of a group that also held Uruguay and England. Ruiz captained that side to the quarter-finals, where the Netherlands needed penalties to stop them, and retired after three World Cups with 147 caps and 29 goals; Twente gave him the Eredivisie in 2010 and the KNVB Cup in 2011, Sporting the Taça da Liga, Alajuelense the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup. LM2004–14

84 Celso Borges 164 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, Deportivo de A CoruñaWhen Costa Rica went to penalties against Greece in Recife in June 2014, Borges walked up first and scored, and four teammates followed him to a 5-3 win. He has since become Costa Rica's most capped player on 164 appearances with 27 goals across three World Cups, and he won five championships with Saprissa before spells at AIK, Deportivo La Coruña and Alajuelense. CDM2010s

4 PW 84 Paulo Wanchope 73 caps · 45 goals · Derby County, West Ham UnitedHe made his Derby County debut at Old Trafford on 5 April 1997, beat four Manchester United players and finished past Peter Schmeichel in a 3-2 win, later voted the greatest goal in Derby's history. His two goals against Germany in the 2006 opener made him the first Costa Rican to score twice in a World Cup match, and he finished with 44 goals in 73 caps, Manchester City's 2001-02 First Division title and the 1999 Intertoto Cup. ST1997–2006

83 Alejandro Morera Soto 7 caps · 6 goals · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, FC BarcelonaIn 1933 he beat Ricardo Zamora in a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid, and closed his first Spanish season as Barcelona's leading scorer with 41 goals. El Mago del Balón scored 312 league goals in 364 Alajuelense games, took Costa Rican titles in 1928, 1939 and 1945 and the Catalan championship in 1935, and was voted his country's player of the century in 1998; his heart lies beneath the east stand of the ground named after him. ST1928–98

83 Walter Centeno 133 caps · 24 goals · Deportivo Saprissa, A.D. BelénIn the 2002-03 Champions League he scored at the Santiago Bernabéu in AEK Athens' 2-2 draw with Real Madrid and again at the Stadio Olimpico as Roma were held 1-1. Back at Saprissa he collected ten Costa Rican championships, the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and third place at that year's Club World Championship behind São Paulo and Liverpool, while his 137 caps covered the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and a Gold Cup top-scorer prize in 2003. CAM2002–06

7 HM 82 Hernán Medford 89 caps · 18 goals · Rayo Vallecano, CF PachucaIn the closing minutes at Genoa on 20 June 1990, the striker Costa Rica called Pelícano scored the goal that beat Sweden 2-1 and carried a debutant nation into the knockout round at its first World Cup. Behind that goal sit three Costa Rican league titles with Saprissa in 1988, 1989 and 1993-94, the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup, a Mexican title with Pachuca in 1996 and a place in CONCACAF's Team of the Century. SS1988–96

8 LG 82 Luis Gabelo Conejo 29 caps · Asociación Deportiva Ramonense, C.S. CartaginésTwo goals conceded across three group games at Italia 90 took Costa Rica past Scotland and Sweden into the last 16, and when injury kept him out of that tie the side let in four against Czechoslovakia. FIFA put him in the tournament's all-star team as one of its two best goalkeepers, beside Sergio Goycochea; 29 caps followed, and at Albacete he kept goal as the club climbed into La Liga for the first time in 1991. GK1990s

82 Rolando Fonseca 113 caps · 47 goals · Deportivo Saprissa, CF PachucaEl Principito remains the all-time top scorer of the UNCAF Nations Cup with 19 goals, and he finished with 47 in 113 Costa Rica caps between 1992 and 2011, still the national record. He played at the 2002 World Cup, won three CONCACAF Champions' Cups with Saprissa in 1993 and 1995 and Alajuelense in 2004, took six Costa Rican championships and added six more in Guatemala with Comunicaciones. LM1992–2011

10 CB 81 Christian Bolaños 87 caps · 6 goals · Deportivo Saprissa, F.C. CopenhagenThe 2014 quarter-final against the Netherlands went to penalties, and Bolaños took the ball, put his kick away and watched Costa Rica go out anyway. Two Danish Superliga titles with Copenhagen in 2010-11 and 2012-13 head his club record, with the 2011-12 Danish Cup, three Saprissa championships, the 2005 CONCACAF Champions Cup, and 87 Costa Rica caps spread across the 2006, 2014 and 2018 World Cups. RM2005–18

11 CH 80 Carlos Hernández On 26 September 2009 he took aim from 35 yards against Gold Coast United and the ball tore into the top left corner past Jess Vanstrattan. That season made him the A-League's best player, the Johnny Warren Medal following the championship and premiership double he had won with Melbourne Victory in 2009; earlier came four Costa Rican titles and the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup with Alajuelense, then 40 caps and the 2006 World Cup. CAM2004–09

80 Cristian Gamboa 78 caps · Municipal Liberia, Rosenborg BKBetween the 2014 and 2018 World Cups he spent a season inside the Celtic side that won every domestic trophy of 2016-17 without losing a match. Two Scottish Premiership titles came from that spell, and he made 78 appearances for Costa Rica with squads at both World Cups, a place in the 2017 CONCACAF Best XI, a Gold Cup semi-final that summer, promotion with VfL Bochum in 2021 and retirement in 2025. RB2014–25

13 GG 80 Giancarlo González 83 caps · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, Vålerenga FotballCosta Rica conceded one goal across three group games in 2014, beating Uruguay 3-1 and Italy 1-0 before drawing with England, and González came out of it in the BBC's team of the tournament. Three Liga FPD titles with Alajuelense between 2010 and 2011 head his club list, along with the 2013 Copa Centroamericana, selection in the CONCACAF Best XI in 2015, 90 caps, and four seasons in Serie A with Palermo and Bologna. CB2010–15

14 GM 80 Gilberto Martínez 61 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, Brescia CalcioTwenty-two and starting all three Costa Rica group games in Korea in 2002, Tuma was a Brescia player by September and never left Italian football again, 218 matches for that club alone. He finished with 61 caps and no goals, played at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, spent a decade in Serie A with a season on Roma's books, and in 2021 the IFFHS named him in Costa Rica's all-time XI. CB2002–21

80 Joel Campbell 93 caps · 17 goals · Real Betis Balompié, OlympiacosCosta Rica were a goal down to Uruguay in Fortaleza on 14 June 2014 when Campbell controlled a long ball and finished for the equaliser, and Costa Rica went on to win 3-1. He played at three World Cups, and won the 2013-14 Greek title at Olympiacos, an FA Community Shield at Arsenal, the 2014 Copa Centroamericana, a Liga MX championship in 2021 and the CONCACAF Champions League in 2023 with León. RM2013–23

16 ÓD 80 Óscar Duarte Three minutes after Joel Campbell equalised in Fortaleza on 14 June 2014, Duarte put Costa Rica ahead of Uruguay at 2-1 in a 3-1 win that opened the group they went on to top. That quarter-final run heads his record, followed by the Belgian Pro League with Club Brugge in 2015-16 and the Belgian Cup in 2014-15, two Saprissa championships in 2008, 76 Costa Rica caps and three World Cups in 2014, 2018 and 2022. CB2008–22

17 RG 80 Ronald Gómez 93 caps · 27 goals · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, OFI CreteAgainst China in Gwangju on 4 June 2002 he broke a goalless hour, and Costa Rica had their first World Cup win in twelve years. He added a goal against Brazil nine days later and another against Poland in 2006, three World Cup goals that still stand as a Costa Rican record shared with Paulo Wanchope; 27 goals came in 93 caps, with three league titles, the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and the Cypriot championship at APOEL. ST2002–06

18 ÁS 79 Álvaro Saborío 108 caps · 35 goals · Deportivo Saprissa, FC SionHe scored twice at the 2005 Club World Championship and finished joint top scorer as Saprissa took third behind São Paulo and Liverpool. The 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup came with it, and after 25 goals in the 2003-04 Costa Rican season he became Real Salt Lake's all-time leading scorer on 51, took MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2010 and finished with 36 goals in more than 110 caps, including the 2006 World Cup. CAM2003–10

19 BO 79 Bryan Oviedo 55 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, FC NordsjællandAn 86th minute finish at Old Trafford on 4 December 2013 gave Everton their first win there in twenty one years, and seven weeks later a tackle in the FA Cup at Stevenage broke Oviedo's leg and cost him the 2014 World Cup. Two Danish Superliga titles with Copenhagen in 2009-10 and 2021-22, Danish Cups in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and 81 caps that carried him to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. LB2009–22

20 EL 79 Erick Lonnis 76 caps · C.S. Cartaginés, Asociación Deportiva CarmelitaHe wore the captain's armband in Gwangju on 4 June 2002 and kept China out for ninety minutes, the win that ended Costa Rica's twelve-year wait for a World Cup victory. He made 76 appearances for his country between 1992 and 2002, spent a decade at Saprissa across 362 matches, and won two CONCACAF Champions Cups there in 1993 and 1995 alongside four national championships. GK1992–2002

21 RF 79 Roger Flores Sweden led in Genoa on 20 June 1990 until Costa Rica's captain, a centre-back, equalised, and Hernán Medford's late goal completed a 2-1 win that took the World Cup debutants into the last 16. The second-round run headlines his record, alongside the 1986 CONCACAF Champions' Cup with Alajuelense, two more with Saprissa, league titles at both clubs, 49 caps, and the 1991 Copa Centroamericana. CB1986–91

22 WL 79 Wílmer López 76 caps · Asociación Deportiva Carmelita, Liga Deportiva AlajuelenseEl Pato scored in both legs of the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup final against Saprissa, the second on 12 May in a 4-0 win that settled the tie at 5-1. That continental title sits beside seven Costa Rican championships with Alajuelense, four of them running from 1999 to 2003, three UNCAF club cups, 478 league appearances for the club and 77 caps that took in all three matches of the 2002 World Cup. CDM1999–2004

23 HW 78 Harold Wallace 101 caps · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, San LuisAlajuelense kept calling him back, and he finished with 424 league games for the club across two spells, split by a season on loan in Mexico. He passed a hundred caps for Costa Rica between 1995 and 2009, appeared at two World Cups, in 2002 and 2006, and won five Costa Rican championships plus the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, taken from Saprissa in an all-Costa Rican final. RB1995–2009

24 JC 78 Juan Cayasso 49 caps · 9 goals · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, Stuttgarter KickersGenoa, 11 June 1990: Cayasso scored the only goal against Scotland, the first any Costa Rican had put in at a World Cup, and the win launched a run to the second round. He took the CONCACAF Champions' Cup twice, with Alajuelense in 1986 and Saprissa in 1995, won league titles at both, scored nine goals in 49 caps, and became the first Costa Rican and first Central American to play in the Bundesliga. ST1986–95

25 MS 78 Mauricio Solís 110 caps · 6 goals · San Jose Earthquakes, Liga Deportiva AlajuelenseOn 23 March 1997 Solís scored in a 3-2 World Cup qualifying win over the United States in San José, and later that year a move to Derby County put him in the same English dressing room as Paulo Wanchope. He finished with 110 caps, the second Costa Rican past a hundred, World Cups in 2002 and 2006, Copa América in 1997 and 2001, and four league championships at home. CM1997–2006

78 Michael Umaña 103 caps · Asociación Deportiva Carmelita, Municipal LiberiaIn Recife on 29 June 2014, with the shootout against Greece at 4-3, he walked up for the fifth kick and buried it to put Costa Rica in a World Cup quarter-final for the first time. He won 102 caps, started all five Costa Rica matches in Brazil, and collected an MLS Cup and US Open Cup double with LA Galaxy in 2005 plus league titles in Guatemala with Comunicaciones and at home with Saprissa. CB2005–14

27 YT 78 Yeltsin Tejeda 53 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, Evian Thonon GaillardTejeda won 78 caps for Costa Rica and scored exactly one goal in them, against Germany at the World Cup on 1 December 2022. Eight years earlier he was the holding midfielder in the run that still defines the country: first place in a group with Uruguay, Italy and England, Greece beaten on penalties, and the Netherlands held goalless in the quarter-final before another shootout ended it. CDM2020s

77 Alonso Solís 48 caps · 8 goals · OFI Crete, SK BrannSaprissa named him El Mariachi after the family of musicians he came from, and he was in the side that beat Al-Ittihad 3-2 in Yokohama on 18 December 2005 to take third place at the Club World Championship. Earlier that year he won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup with the same club, and he added four Costa Rican championships and 48 caps worth nine goals, taking in the 2004 Copa América and the 2007 Gold Cup. SS2004–07

29 JL 77 José Luis López Herediano sent him out against Saprissa on 4 January 1997, still fifteen years old, and he was still playing top-flight football seventeen years later. Eight seasons at Saprissa brought five national championships, a CONCACAF Champions Cup and third place at the 2005 Club World Championship in Japan, while a loan spell at Melbourne Victory added the 2008-09 A-League championship and premiership; he won 34 caps. CM1997–2008

77 Kendall Waston 78 caps · Deportivo Saprissa, Vancouver WhitecapsTrailing in Honduras in October 2017, Costa Rica needed a point and got it in the 95th minute through Waston, 1.96 metres of centre-back, whose equaliser booked their place at the 2018 World Cup. He scored at that World Cup too, against Switzerland, and his record holds the 2015 Canadian Championship with Vancouver, Costa Rican league titles with Saprissa in 2014 and 2021, ten goals in 78 caps, and MLS Best XI selections in 2015 and 2017. CB2014–21

31 MO 76 Marvin Obando 51 caps · 1 goals · C.S. Herediano, Asociación Deportiva San CarlosNo Costa Rican has played more league football than Obando, whose 685 appearances across Herediano, Cartaginés, Saprissa and a string of smaller clubs left him one game clear of Julio Fuller. He won 51 caps, travelled with the squad that reached the last sixteen at Italia 90 on Costa Rica's first World Cup appearance, and scored his only international goal against Cuba in Alajuela on 24 June 1980. CM1980s

32 RK 76 Rodrigo Kenton Asociacion Deportiva Limonense, Club de Futbol Universidad de Costa RicaA Limonense man first, he came out of the Caribbean coast club in 1974 and was still playing at 33, finishing with Ramonense in 1989. His honours came later from the touchline, as assistant to Bora Milutinović when Costa Rica reached the second round at Italia 90, as an Alajuelense assistant for the 1999-2000 title, and as the coach who took the under-23s to an Olympic quarter-final in Athens, the country's best Games run. CM1974–2000

76 Rónald Matarrita 52 caps · Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, New York CityOn 15 June 2018 a grade-one tear in his right thigh took Matarrita out of the squad days before Costa Rica opened against Serbia, and Kenner Gutiérrez went to Russia in his place. The rest of his career reads better: the Invierno 2013 title with Alajuelense, a place in the CONCACAF Best XI in 2016 after a first MLS season that also made him New York City's defender of the year, and 57 caps at left-back. LB2013–18

About this XI

Costa Rica's pool is led by Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz and Celso Borges. The 33 covers 3 goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 14 midfielders and 6 forwards, spanning the 1980s to the 2020s. Keylor Navas leads the pool at 90 overall. Pick a formation, drag your eleven onto the pitch, then settle the duels below. Your votes reorder the people's ranking of these 33 in real time.

Who is the greatest Costa Rica footballer of all time?

In the 33 Legends editorial ranking, Keylor Navas leads Costa Rica with an overall rating of 90. The editorial top five: Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz, Celso Borges, Paulo Wanchope, Alejandro Morera Soto. The people's ranking on this page moves with every duel vote and can disagree.

How were these 33 Costa Rica players chosen?

The pool covers every position across Costa Rica's football history. Ratings weigh peak level, longevity, honours and historical standing, then the full methodology page explains the tiers. Fan votes in the duels build a second, independent ranking.

Which Costa Rica players reach the Immortal tier or higher?

None yet. Keylor Navas leads the Costa Rica pool at 90, in the Legend tier.

Can I build and share my own Costa Rica all-time XI?

Yes. Pick one of eight formations, drag any of the 33 onto the pitch, and export your lineup as a PNG. There is no account and no sign-up.