Liga Deportiva Alajuelense

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.[6][7]

Alejandro Morera Soto, most important idol of the club.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10][11]

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[12] 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. On June 10, 2019 the club celebrated its 100th anniversary, being the second Costa Rican team to do so.

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.[13]

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".[14]

Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto.

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.[15]

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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

• 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	Toyota Mobil Bridgestone Kolbi

• Jersey sponsors

Kolbi – Tuasa – Repretel – Cementos Fortaleza – Toyota – Mobil

As of 12 January 2021[31]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  CRC Ian Lawrence 3 DF  CRC Fernán Faerrón 4 DF  MEX Daniel Arreola 5 DF  CRC Yurguin Román 6 DF  CRC José Salvatierra 7 FW  CRC Jurguens Montenegro 8 FW  CRC Johan Venegas 9 FW  CUB Marcel Hernández 10 FW  CRC Bryan Ruiz (Captain) 11 MF  HON Alexander López 12 DF  CRC Ian Smith 15 DF  CRC Júnior Díaz

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW  CRC Alonso Martínez 18 GK  CRC Mauricio Vargas 22 MF  CRC Barlon Sequeira 23 GK  CRC Leonel Moreira (on loan from Pachuca) 25 MF  CRC Aarón Suárez 26 MF  CRC Bernald Alfaro 27 MF  CRC Carlos Mora 28 MF  CRC Brandon Aguilera 33 MF  CRC José Miguel Cubero