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Deportivo Saprissa

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Saprissa
File:Saprissa.png
Full nameDeportivo Saprissa Sociedad Anónima Deportiva
Nickname(s)El Monstruo Morado; Los Morados, La 'S'
FoundedJuly 16, 1935
GroundEstadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá
(La Cueva),
San José, Costa Rica
Capacity27,500
ChairmanMexico Jorge Vergara
Head CoachCosta Rica Roy Myers
LeaguePrimera División de Costa Rica
Verano 2010Winner (of 12 teams)

Deportivo Saprissa S.A.D. (formerly known as C.D. Saprissa) is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is located in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and plays their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa

The club's success has led to the Costa Rican newspaper Diario Extra nicknaming the team El Monstruo Morado ("The Purple Monster"), after Saprissa won a Championship in the early 1980s and an article in the newspaper said "the crowd yells and screams like a thousand-headed monster".

Saprissa is one of the most successful clubs in CONCACAF having won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup three times - in 1993, 1995, and 2005. Saprissa is also the most successful club in Central America having won five Central American crowns in 1972, 1973, 1978, 1998, and 2003.

The team is also the most successful club in Costa Rica having won 29 Primera División de Costa Rica championships, the most of any team in Costa Rica.

For the year from 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2008 the club is listed as being the 106th best team in the world by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, an organization recognized by FIFA.[1]

One of their most notable moments came in 2005 when they became the first, and so far only, non-Mexican club in CONCACAF to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup, finishing in third place. Along with Club Necaxa, this is the highest finish out of any CONCACAF team in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Saprissa has the most appearances in the CONCACAF Champions Cup finals by a Costa Rican club with three first place finishes and four runners-up finishes. Their six consecutive titles from 1972 to 1977 is a national record.

The club is the current champion having won Torneo Verano of 2009–10 Primera División season

The club was the best in Central & North America of the 20th century according IFFHS.[2]

History

Template:Details3 Deportivo Saprissa was founded on 16 July 1935 and they entered the Costa Rican Third Division as Saprissa F.C. They were promoted to the Primera División de Costa Rica, making their debut in the top flight on 21 August 1949. The club has remained in the Costa Rican top flight ever since. They were Primera División champions six consecutive seasons between 1972 and 1977.

Recent events

In 2003, the club was bought by Mexican entrepreneur Jorge Vergara, the owner of Mexican football club Club Deportivo Guadalajara and soon after the operator of Major League Soccer club Club Deportivo Chivas USA in the United States.

Saprissa won the 2005 CONCACAF Champions Cup, beating Mexican club UNAM in the final over two legs, in May 2005. As CONCACAF club champions they qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, held in Japan in December 2005. They beat Australian club Sydney FC in the quarter-finals thanks to a goal by Christian Bolaños. In the semi-finals they were beaten 3-0 by English club Liverpool. In the third place match they beat Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 3-2. Álvaro Saborío scored two goals, and Rónald Gómez scored the final goal in the 89th minute to seal the win. They finished the competition in third place behind São Paulo of Brazil and Liverpool. Saborío was joint top scorer, and Bolaños was awarded the Bronze Ball by FIFA as third best player of the championship.

Team colours and nickname

In 1937, Saprissa adopted purple as the official kit colour. It is said that the team adopted purple because their previous kit, which consisted of a red and blue striped shirt, was washed together by mistake. Then when the kits were ready to be picked up, it was realized that the two colours had blended, forming a solid purple colour.[citation needed]

The history of the nickname El Monstruo Morado (The Purple Monster) can be traced back to 1987, when the Costa Rican newspaper Diario Extra gave the team the nickname during the local derby with LD Alajuelense. A reporter is said to have commented that the sea of fans in the stands at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá in Tibás wearing purple and the tremendous noise they were generating made him feel like he was "in the presence of a thousand headed monster". Saprissa immediately adopted the nickname El Monstruo Morado.

Stadium

Fans of "La Ultra Morada" in La Cueva

Saprissa plays home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, named after Ricardo Saprissa. They originally played at the Costa Rica National Stadium, which they rented and shared.

A new site for a stadium was bought in 1965 and on 27 August 1972 after six years of construction and upgrades, Estadio Ricardo Saprissa was officially opened. The first match was between Deportivo Saprissa and Comunicaciones of Guatemala. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Peter Sandoval of Comunicaciones scoring the first goal at the new stadium.

The stadium is called La Cueva del Monstruo (The Monster's Cave), after the nickname of the club, El Monstruo Morado ("The Purple Monster"). It has a seating capacity of 23,112 and is overlooked by local mountains and downtown San Jose.

Supporters

La Ultra Morada (The Purple Ultra) is the club's official supporters group. The group was the first Ultras group in Costa Rica, formed in 1995 when the then Saprissa president Enrique Artiñano brought fans from the Chilean football club Universidad Católica, to help build a similar ultras group to their Los Cruzados, for Saprissa. In the mid-to-late 1990s the Ultras began to develop the image of being football hooligans when violence began to break out with opposition fans during games. Due to the negative atmosphere and press coverage, Saprissa stepped in to restore order to a group that they had helped create. Ultra Morada has now been taken under the wing of Saprissa, making it a more stable but devoted supporters group. This project is still on-going. The groups rivalry with La 12 (The Twelve) who support LD Alajuelense has been the cause of a number violent clashes in and out of stadiums.

Mascot

The official mascot of the team is a cartoonish purple dragon, which was based on the Dragon Elliot, and similar to one of "Dragontales" and many other dragons from children shows. Because of this, many of the fans call the mascot "Un monstruo bonachón" which means "A friendly monster". But even though the nickname may sound childish, the Ultra and Costa Rica shows love for their team mascot and actually respect it, make healthy and friendly jokes about it and put many T-shirts or costumes of him. However in early 2010, a new mascot was introduced, the mascot was designed in Mexico, it was a campy, superhero-like purple monster and replaced the old mascot without previous notification to the fans. The new mascot was highly rejected by the fans, claiming that "No queremos un dinosaurio super héroe, queremos al espíritu del equipo (We don't want a super hero, we want the original spirit of the team)". The new mascot was replaced immediately after the strong rejection, and the team now has a new mascot that resembles the original. The new costume was manufactured by Fernando Thiel, an Argentina-born puppeteer who lives in Costa Rica.

Players

Current squad

As of 2010[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Costa Rica CRC Daniel Cambronero
2 DF Costa Rica CRC Yader Balladares
3 DF Costa Rica CRC Victor Cordero
4 DF Costa Rica CRC José Mena
5 DF Costa Rica CRC Alexander Robinson
6 DF Costa Rica CRC Esteban Sirias
8 MF Costa Rica CRC Walter Centeno
9 FW Costa Rica CRC Alejandro Sequeira
10 FW Costa Rica CRC Alonso Solís
11 FW Costa Rica CRC Allan Alemán
12 MF Costa Rica CRC Fernando Paniagua
13 GK Costa Rica CRC Fausto González
16 DF Costa Rica CRC Gabriel Badilla
17 MF Costa Rica CRC Jose Luis López
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF Costa Rica CRC Jervis Drummond
19 FW Costa Rica CRC Jairo Arrieta
20 MF Costa Rica CRC David Guzman
21 FW Costa Rica CRC Armando Alonso
22 GK Costa Rica CRC Minor Alvarez
23 MF Costa Rica CRC Juan Bustos
24 DF Costa Rica CRC Ricardo Blanco
27 MF Costa Rica CRC Mauricio Castillo
28 FW Costa Rica CRC Josue Martinez
29 DF Costa Rica CRC Javier Loaiza
30 DF Costa Rica CRC Douglas Sequeira
32 MF Costa Rica CRC Esteban Luna
33 MF Costa Rica CRC Luis Diego Cordero
36 FW Costa Rica CRC Joel Campbell

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF Costa Rica CRC Oscar Duarte (on loan at Puntarenas)
- DF Costa Rica CRC Kendall Waston (on loan at [[UCR]])
- MF Costa Rica CRC Michael Barrantes (on loan at Aalesund)
- FW Costa Rica CRC Daniel Colindres (on loan at Santos de Guapiles)
- FW Costa Rica CRC Cesar Elizondo (on loan at Perez Zeledon)

Non-playing staff

Name Role
Costa Rica Victor Badilla Vice President
Costa Rica Mario Jiménez Commercial Manager Costa Rica Marco Herrera Assistant Coach
Costa Rica Jose Francisco Porras Assistant Coach
Costa Rica Pier Luigi Morera Head Athletic Trainer
Costa Rica Róger Mora Goalkeeping coach
Costa Rica Willy Gálvez Team Physician

Former coaches

Honours

National

  • Primera División de Costa Rica championships (29):
    • 1952-53, 1953–54, 1957–58, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007-08 Apertura, 2007-08 Clausura, 2008-09 Apertura, 2010 Clausura
  • Costa Rican Short Championships (8):
    • 1997-98 Clausura, 1998–99 Apertura, 1998–99 Clausura, 2003–04 Apertura, 2005–06 Apertura, 2005–06 Clausura, 2006–07 Apertura, 2006–07 Clausura

International

  • CONCACAF Central American Champions
    • Winners (1): 1970
  • Copa Ricard
    • Runners-up (1): 2008
  • US Camel Cup
    • Winners (1): 1985
  • FIFA World Toyota Club Championship
    • Third Place (3): 2005

See also

References

  1. ^ "Club World Ranking Top 350 (1st September 2007 - 31st August 2008)". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  2. ^ "Central and North America's club of the Century". IFFHS official website. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  3. ^ Deportivo Saprissa - Sitio Oficial del Monstruo Morado

Template:CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09 Template:CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10 Template:IFFHS continental Clubs of the 20th Century