Deportivo Saprissa S.A.D.

Saprissa
Full name	Deportivo Saprissa Sociedad Anónima Deportiva
Nickname(s)	Monstruo Morado
Founded	July 16, 1935
Ground	Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá; (La Cueva del monsturo),; San José, Costa Rica; (Capacity: 23,000)
Owner	Horizonte Morado
Chairman	Juan Carlos Rojas Callán
League	Primera División de Costa Rica
2010-11	5th
Home colours	Away colours

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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 Aymá.

The club's success has led to the Costa Rican newspaper Diario Extra nicknaming the team 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 and centroamerican 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 was the best in Central & North America of the 20th century according to IFFHS.^[2]

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see History of Deportivo Saprissa.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Stadium

Main article: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

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 24,000 and is overlooked by local mountains and downtown San Jose.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

As of 2012^[3]

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

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Víctor Bolivar
2	DF	Jordan Smith
4	DF	José Mena
5	DF	Alexander Robinson
6	MF	Yeltsin Tejeda
7	MF	Maikol Ortiz
8	MF	Walter Centeno (Captain)
9	FW	Jorge Alejandro Castro
11	FW	Allan Alemán
12	MF	Fernando Paniagua
13	GK	Fausto González
14	DF	Kevin Arrieta
15	MF	Deyver Vega
16	DF	Gabriel Badilla (2nd Captain)
17	DF	Óscar Duarte

No.	Position	Player
19	FW	Jairo Arrieta
20	MF	David Guzmán
22	GK	Donny Grant
23	MF	Juan Bustos
24	DF	Ricardo Blanco
25	MF	Manfred Russell
26	FW	Daniel Colindres
27	FW	César Elizondo
29	DF	Fabián Rojas
30	MF	Douglas Sequeira (3rd Captain)
32	DF	Krasher Mooke
33	MF	Luis Diego Cordero
77	FW	Mynor Escoe
-	DF	Juan Manuel Morales
-	FW	Gustavo Fernández (on loan from River Plate)

[edit] Out on loan

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

No.	Position	Player
-	GK	Minor Álvarez (on loan at Santos de Guapiles)
-	DF	Kendall Watson (on loan at Perez Zeledon)
-	DF	Ariel Contreras (on loan at Belen Bridgestone)
-	DF	Javier Loaiza (on loan at Santos de Guapiles)
-	MF	Mauricio Castillo (on loan at Belen Bridgestone)
-	MF	Jose Luis Cordero (on loan at Herediano)

No.	Position	Player
-	MF	Gualberto Montenegro (on loan at Orion FC)
-	MF	Felipe Chaves (on loan at Belen Bridgestone)
-	FW	Jonathan Moya (on loan at Santos de Guapiles)
-	FW	Luis Solis (on loan at Orion FC)
-	FW	Alonso Solís (on loan at Indian Premier League)
21	FW	Erick Scott (on loan at Santos de Guapiles)

[edit] Non-playing staff

Name	Role
Enrique Rivers	Vice President
Mario Jiménez	Commercial Manager
Alexandre Guimarães	Head Coach
Randall Row	Assistant Coach
Jose Francisco Porras	Assistant Coach
Marcelo Tulbovitz	Head Athletic Trainer
Róger Mora	Goalkeeping coach
Willy Gálvez	Team Physician

[edit] Former coaches

1950s - 1960s

Francisco García
Eduardo Viso Abella
Otto Bumbel
Carlos Peucelle
Alfredo Piedra
José Ramos
Mario Cordero

1970s

Marvin Rodríguez
Geovanny Rodríguez
Guillermo Hernández
Jozef Karel
Daniel Vazquez

1980s

Josef Bouška
Odir Jaques

1990s

2000s

2010s to date

[edit] Honours

[edit] National

Primera División de Costa Rica: 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

[edit] International

CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 24 appearances

Winners (3): 1993, 1995, 2005

Runners-up (4): 1970, 1973, 2004, 2008

Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 17 appearances

Winners (5): 1972, 1973, 1978, 1998, 2003

Runners-up (7): 1971, 1974, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2007

Interamerican Cup: 2 appearances

Runners-up (2): 1993, 1995

CONCACAF Central American Champions: 1 appearance

Winners (1): 1970

Copa Ricard: 1 appearance

Runners-up (1): 2008

US Camel Cup: 1 appearance

Winners (1): 1985

FIFA World Club Championship Toyota Cup: 1 appearance

Third Place (1): 2005

[edit] International level

[edit] Record versus other nations

As of 2012-01-13

The Concacaf opponents below = Official tournament results: (Plus a sampling of other results)

Opponent	Last Meeting	G	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	+/-
Al Ittihad	18 – Dec – 2005	1	1	0	0	3	2	3	+1
Alianza	24 – Feb – 2000	16	8	5	3	29	16	26	+13
América	08 - Feb - 2001	5	0	2	3	8	12	2	-4
Árabe Unido	00 – ??? – 0000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Atlante	20 – Mar – 2008	2	1	0	1	4	2	3	+2
Atlético Marte	11 – Dec – 1991	7	3	2	2	6	4	11	+2
Atlético Nacional	03 - Apr - 1997	2	0	1	1	3	4	1	-1
Aurora	26 – Nov – 1998	15	6	6	3	25	19	19	+6
FK Austria Wien	27 – Dec – 1959	3	1	0	2	4	10	2	-6
Banfield	12 – Aug – 1974	3	1	1	1	3	5	3	-2
Borussia Dortmund	01 – Oct – 1994	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0
Chicago Fire	21 – Apr – 2004	2	1	0	1	3	2	3	+1
Columbus Crew	29 – Sep – 2009	4	1	2	1	4	3	5	+1
Comunicaciones	21 – Dec – 2003	25	11	9	5	38	29	37	+9
Cruz Azul	20- Oct - 2009	6	1	2	3	5	12	5	-7
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube	14 - Mar - 1971	2	1	1	0	4	2	3	+2
Defensor Sporting	29 - Jan - 2008	1	0	1	0	3	3	1	0
D.C. United	09 – Oct – 2008	2	1	1	0	4	2	4	+2
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense	19 - May - 1985	2	0	1	1	2	5	1	-3
Hertha Berlin	09 - Jul - 2005	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	-2
Houston Dynamo	09 – Apr – 2008	2	1	1	0	3	0	4	+3
Independiente Medellín	10 – Sep – 1996	2	1	1	0	3	2	4	+1
Club León	16 – Aug – 1998	3	1	2	0	4	2	5	+2
Liverpool	15 – Dec – 2005	1	0	0	1	0	3	0	-3
Los Angeles Galaxy	08 – Mar – 2006	2	1	1	0	3	2	4	+1
Luis Angel Firpo	21 – Jul – 1999	4	2	1	1	7	4	6	+3
Maccabi Haifa F.C.	20 – Apr – 1959	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	+1
Monarcas Morelia	19 - Mar - 2002	2	1	0	1	1	2	3	-1
Monterrey	28 – Sep – 2010	4	0	3	1	5	6	3	-1
Motagua	07 – Dec – 2007	15	9	5	1	24	7	24	+17
Municipal	12 – Sep – 2001	21	7	10	4	22	16	27	+6
Nacional Montevideo	30- Jan - 2008	3	0	3	0	3	3	3	0
Necaxa	28 - Sep - 1999	3	0	2	1	3	4	2	-1
Olimpia	28 - Jan - 2008	2	1	1	0	5	3	4	+2
Olimpia	03 – Mar – 2011	15	9	2	4	27	19	25	+8
Pachuca	19 – Mar – 2008	4	1	1	2	5	6	4	-1
C.A. Peñarol	08 – Jan – 2007	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Puebla	02 – Sep – 1993	2	0	2	0	1	1	2	0
Pumas UNAM	11 – May – 2005	2	1	0	1	3	2	3	+1
Racing Club de Avellaneda	09 - Feb - 1975	5	1	2	2	7	9	4	-2
Real España	20 – Nov – 1998	8	3	1	4	10	10	7	0
Real Estelí	23 – Aug – 2006	7	6	1	0	16	3	0	+19
Real Madrid	08 – Aug – 1961	1	0	0	1	2	4	0	-2
San Francisco	00 – ??? – 0000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Santos FC	18 - Feb - 1972	4	0	1	3	8	16	1	-8
Seattle Sounders FC	10 – Oct– 2010	2	2	0	0	4	1	6	+3
Sion	09 – Jul – 2010	1	1	0	0	2	1	3	+1
Sochaux	11 – Jul – 2010	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Sparta Prague	08 - Jul - 2005	2	0	1	1	3	5	1	-2
Sporting Kansas City	16 – Mar – 2005	2	1	1	0	2	1	4	+1
Sydney FC	12 – Dec – 2005	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	+1
Tauro	15 – Aug – 2001	3	2	1	0	6	2	6	+4
Toluca	29 - Mar - 2006	3	1	1	1	4	5	4	-1
Club Deportivo Universidad Católica	23 - Jul - 2011	6	3	0	3	10	12	9	-2
Totals