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Costa Rica at the FIFA World Cup

For the women's team, see Costa Rica at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Costa Rica during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where they achieved their best performance

This is a record of Costa Rica's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]

Costa Rica's history at the FIFA World Cup is relatively recent, as they missed the tournament for sixty years since its inception in 1930 until their first appearance at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the team's only participation at the tournament in the 20th century.[2] The 21st century has seen Costa Rica qualifying to all editions of the FIFA World Cup, with the exception of the 2010 edition,[3] which they narrowly missed.[4]

In 2014, Costa Rica had its best performance at a FIFA World Cup. On 6 December 2013, Costa Rica was drawn into Group D with Uruguay, Italy, and England, the only group in FIFA World Cup history to feature three former world champions who, at the time, stood within the top 10 of the FIFA Men's World Ranking.[5][6] Expectations for Costa Rica were overwhelmingly low,[7][8][9] and that the team would finish in the thirty-second place.[10] Instead, Costa Rica topped the group undefeated, with two victories and one draw, and only one goal received.[11] After defeating Greece at the round of 16 through the penalty shoot-outs, and losing through the same means at the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, Costa Rica left the World Cup among the eight best teams, undefeated, and conceding only two goals, the least of all participants of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[12][13][14] Sports-news outlets such as Goal and Mundo Deportivo rank Costa Rica's performance in 2014 as one of the biggest surprises in FIFA World Cup history.[15][16] Such a performance at the World Cup boosted Costa Rica's prestige in the international scene, as fifteen of the twenty-three players of the squad changed teams in the two transfer windows following the World Cup,[17] including goalkeeper Keylor Navas signing for Real Madrid.[18] Both the Costa Rican performance at the 2014 World Cup and Navas' subsequent, successful stint with Real Madrid had a significant impact on Costa Rican sports, economy, tourism, and society.[19][20][21][22][23]

Costa Rica ranks third in FIFA World Cup appearances within the CONCACAF region, and first within the UNCAF subregion, in which they hold as many participations as the rest of Central America combined.[24] Costa Rica remains the only Central American team to win a match at a World Cup, which they have done six times, and the only team within that region to qualify past the group stage, which they have done twice.[25][26]

The Borges family, namely father Alexandre Guimarães and son Celso Borges, have accompanied Costa Rica through all the team's appearances at the FIFA World Cup. Guimarães participated as a player in 1990, then as a coach in 2002 and 2006, while Celso played in 2014, 2018, and 2022.[27]

Overall record

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Costa Rica inaugurated the 2006 FIFA World Cup by playing against hosts Germany
FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did not enter
Italy 1934
France 1938
Brazil 1950
Switzerland 1954
Sweden 1958 Did not qualify
Chile 1962
England 1966
Mexico 1970
West Germany 1974
Argentina 1978
Spain 1982
Mexico 1986
Italy 1990 Round of 16 13th 4 2 0 2 4 6
United States 1994 Did not qualify
France 1998
South Korea Japan 2002 Group stage 19th 3 1 1 1 5 6
Germany 2006 31st 3 0 0 3 3 9
South Africa 2010 Did not qualify
Brazil 2014 Quarter-finals 8th 5 2 3 0 5 2
Russia 2018 Group stage 29th 3 0 1 2 2 5
Qatar 2022 27th 3 1 0 2 3 11
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total Quarter-finals 6/25 21 6 5 10 22 39
*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

Head-to-head record

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Matches

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1990 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup
11 June 1990 Group Stage Costa Rica  1–0  Scotland Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
17:00 Cayasso 49' Report Attendance: 30,867
Referee: Juan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)
16 June 1990 Group Stage Brazil  1–0  Costa Rica Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin
17:00 Müller 33' Report Attendance: 58,007
Referee: Neji Jouini (Tunisia)
20 June 1990 Group Stage Costa Rica  2–1  Sweden Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
21:00 Flores 75'
Medford 88'		 Report Ekström 32' Attendance: 30,223
Referee: Zoran Petrović (Yugoslavia)
23 June 1990 Round of 16 Czechoslovakia  4–1  Costa Rica Stadio San Nicola, Bari
21:00 Skuhravý 12', 63', 82'
Kubík 75'		 Report González 54' Attendance: 47,673
Referee: Siegfried Kirschen (East Germany)

2002 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup
4 June 2002 Group Stage Costa Rica  2–0  China Gwangju, South Korea
15:30 Gómez 61'
Wright 65'		 Report Stadium: Gwangju World Cup Stadium
Attendance: 27,217
Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
9 June 2002 Group Stage Costa Rica  1–1  Turkey Incheon, South Korea
18:00 Parks 86' Report Belözoğlu 56' Stadium: Incheon Munhak Stadium
Attendance: 42,299
Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)
13 June 2002 Group Stage Costa Rica  2–5  Brazil Suwon, South Korea
15:30 Wanchope 22'
Gómez 56'		 Report Ronaldo 10', 13'
Edmílson 38'
Rivaldo 62'
Júnior 64'		 Stadium: Suwon World Cup Stadium
Attendance: 38,524
Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

2006 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup
9 June 2006 Group Stage Germany  4–2  Costa Rica Munich
18:00 Lahm 6'
Klose 17', 61'
Frings 87'		 Report Wanchope 12', 73' Stadium: FIFA WM Stadion München
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
15 June 2006 Group Stage Ecuador  3–0  Costa Rica Hamburg
15:00 C. Tenorio 8'
Delgado 54'
Kaviedes 90+2'		 Report Stadium: FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)
20 June 2006 Group Stage Costa Rica  1–2  Poland Hanover
16:00 Gómez 25' Report Bosacki 33', 65' Stadium: FIFA WM Stadion Hannover
Attendance: 43,000
Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

2014 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup
14 June 2014 Group Stage Uruguay  1–3  Costa Rica Fortaleza, Brazil
16:00 UTC−3 Cavani 24' (pen.) Report Campbell 54'
Duarte 57'
Ureña 84'		 Stadium: Estádio Castelão
Attendance: 58,679
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
20 June 2014 Group Stage Italy  0–1  Costa Rica Recife, Brazil
13:00 UTC−3 Report Ruiz 44' Stadium: Arena Pernambuco
Attendance: 40,285
Referee: Enrique Osses (Chile)
24 June 2014 Group Stage Costa Rica  0–0  England Belo Horizonte, Brazil
13:00 UTC−3 Report Stadium: Estádio Mineirão
Attendance: 57,823
Referee: Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria)
29 June 2014 Round of 16 Costa Rica  1–1 (a.e.t.)
(5–3 p)		  Greece Recife, Brazil
17:00 Ruiz 52' Report Papastathopoulos 90+1' Stadium: Arena Pernambuco
Attendance: 41,242
Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)
Penalties
Borges soccer ball with check mark
Ruiz soccer ball with check mark
González soccer ball with check mark
Campbell soccer ball with check mark
Umaña soccer ball with check mark		 soccer ball with check mark Mitroglou
soccer ball with check mark Christodoulopoulos
soccer ball with check mark Holebas
soccer ball with red X Gekas
5 July 2014 Quarter-finals Netherlands  0–0 (a.e.t.)
(4–3 p)		  Costa Rica Salvador, Brazil
17:00 Report Stadium: Arena Fonte Nova
Attendance: 51,179
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
Penalties
Van Persie soccer ball with check mark
Robben soccer ball with check mark
Sneijder soccer ball with check mark
Kuyt soccer ball with check mark		 soccer ball with check mark Borges
soccer ball with red X Ruiz
soccer ball with check mark González
soccer ball with check mark Bolaños
soccer ball with red X Umaña

2018 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup
17 June 2018 Group Stage Costa Rica  0–1  Serbia Cosmos Arena, Samara
16:00 UTC+4 Report Kolarov 56' Attendance: 41,432
Referee: Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)
22 June 2018 Group Stage Brazil  2–0  Costa Rica Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg
15:00 UTC+3 Coutinho 90+1'
Neymar 90+7'		 Report Attendance: 64,468
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
27 June 2018 Group Stage Switzerland  2–2  Costa Rica Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
21:00 UTC+3 Džemaili 31'
Drmić 88'		 Report Waston 56'
Sommer 90+3' (o.g.)		 Attendance: 43,319
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

2022 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup
23 November 2022 Group Stage Spain  7–0  Costa Rica Doha, Qatar
19:00 AST (UTC+03:00) Olmo 11'
Asensio 21'
F. Torres 31' (pen.), 54'
Gavi 74'
Soler 90'
Morata 90+2'		 Report Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium
Attendance: 40,013
Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)
27 November 2022 Group Stage Japan  0–1  Costa Rica Al Rayyan, Qatar
13:00 UTC+3 Report Fuller 81' Stadium: Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Attendance: 41,479
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
1 December 2022 Group Stage Costa Rica  2–4  Germany Al Khor, Qatar
20:00 UTC+1 Tejeda 58'
Vargas 70'		 Report Gnabry 10'
Havertz 73', 85'
Füllkrug 89'		 Stadium: Al Bayt Stadium
Attendance: 67,054
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France)

Player appearances

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Celso Borges and Keylor Navas share the record for most matches played for Costa Rica at the FIFA World Cup
Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Celso Borges 11[28] 2014, 2018, and 2022
Keylor Navas
3 Joel Campbell 10 2014, 2018, and 2022
4 Christian Bolaños 9 2006, 2014, and 2018
Óscar Duarte 2014, 2018, and 2022
Bryan Ruiz
Yeltsin Tejeda
8 Cristian Gamboa 8 2014 and 2018
Giancarlo González
10 Michael Umaña 7 2006 and 2014

Goalscorers

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Rónald Gómez and Paulo Wanchope are the top goalscorers for Costa Rica at the FIFA World Cup

Fifteen Costa Ricans have scored for the national team throughout their six participations at the FIFA World Cup.

Rank Player Goals World Cups and rivals
1 Rónald Gómez 3 2002 (against  China and  Brazil) and 2006 (against  Poland)
Paulo Wanchope 2002 (against  Brazil) and 2006 (twice against  Germany)
3 Bryan Ruiz 2 2014 (against  Italy and  Greece)
4 Joel Campbell 1 2014 (against  Uruguay)
Juan Cayasso 1990 (against  Scotland)
Óscar Duarte 2014 (against  Uruguay)
Róger Flores 1990 (against  Sweden)
Keysher Fuller 2022 (against  Japan)
Rónald González 1990 (against  Czechoslovakia)
Hernán Medford 1990 (against  Sweden)
Winston Parks 2002 (against  Turkey)
Yeltsin Tejeda 2022 (against  Germany)
Marco Ureña 2014 (against  Uruguay)
Juan Pablo Vargas 2022 (against  Germany)
Kendall Waston 2018 (against   Switzerland)
Mauricio Wright 2002 (against  China)

In addition to those players, Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer scored an own goal for Costa Rica in 2018.

Individual awards

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage Archived June 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.
  2. ^ Villena Fiengo, Sergio (25 April 2018). "Costa Rica en la Copa América Centenario: entre la utopía y el síndrome de Sísifo". Revista Desbordes. 7 (2016): 93–97. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Costa Rica en los Mundiales: cuántos jugó, mejor posición y jugadores históricos | Goal.com". www.goal.com. 10 June 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  4. ^ Lewis, Michael (6 April 2020). "RISING ABOVE: How Jonathan Bornstein's 2009 Header vs. Costa Rica Lifted Two Nations". www.ussoccer.com. United States Soccer Federation. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  5. ^ McIntyre, Doug (4 July 2014). "Los Ticos ready to shock again". ESPN.com. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ^ "England in toughest World Cup group". BBC Sport. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  7. ^ Mendoza, Adrián (3 June 2014). "Mourinho no le da esperanzas a Costa Rica en el Mundial | Crhoy.com". CRHoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  8. ^ Fonseca, Graciela (15 June 2014). "Así hablaron Falcao y Maradona de Costa Rica un día antes del juego… ambos se equivocaron | Crhoy.com". CRHoy.com | Periodico Digital | Costa Rica Noticias 24/7 (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Costa Pobre". Ovación Digital. 3 June 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  10. ^ Marquez, Damian (6 June 2014). "World Cup Preview: Three former champions featured in Group D". Visalia Times-Delta. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  11. ^ Díaz, Pablo (24 June 2014). "Mundial: Costa Rica empata con Inglaterra (0-0) y acaba campeón del líder de la muerte". MARCA.com. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  12. ^ Umaña, Johan (7 July 2014). "La Selección Nacional dejó números de lujo". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Costa Rica's last hurrah in historic World Cup run". The Tico Times. 6 July 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Algunas estadísticas de La Sele en su paso por Brasil 2014". Teletica (in European Spanish). 8 July 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Las sorpresas más grandes de la historia de los Mundiales | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Goal. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  16. ^ Cáceres, Damián (7 August 2022). "Las sorpresas más grandes de los mundiales". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  17. ^ Herrera, Walter (27 August 2018). "Ticos cotizados por el suelo en mercado de fichajes como secuela del Mundial". www.larepublica.net (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  18. ^ Valverde, Esteban (17 May 2018). "Recordando Brasil 2014: Cómo Keylor Navas sedujo al Real Madrid durante el Mundial". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  19. ^ Barquero, Marvin (16 January 2016). "País logra récords en divisas y visitantes por el turismo". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  20. ^ Madrigal, Johnny (September 2014). "Aficionados ticos y la Copa Mundial de Fútbol Brasil 2014" (PDF). UCR.ac.cr. University of Costa Rica's School of Statistics. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  21. ^ Herrera, Jason (28 May 2018). "Diario Extra - 'Keylor Navas hace todo por Costa Rica'". www.diarioextra.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  22. ^ Figueroa, Fredi (3 May 2021). "Keylor Navas, el brand symbol que proyecta a Costa Rica". El Economista (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  23. ^ García Roldán, José Pablo (5 July 2022). "Keylor Navas y su impacto como embajador de marca país". El Observador CR (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  24. ^ Hernández, Camilo (15 June 2022). "Todas las clasificaciones a Mundiales de selecciones de Centroamérica y Concacaf". Fútbol Centroamérica (in European Spanish). Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  25. ^ Bateman, Jason (29 May 2017). "Selección Nacional de Costa Rica". CostaRica.Org (in Spanish).
  26. ^ Schwartz, Nick (8 June 2018). "World Cup 2018: Getting to know Team Costa Rica". USA Today For the Win. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  27. ^ Hernández, Camilo (16 November 2022). "Los Borges: el sello de Costa Rica en sus seis Copas del Mundo". Fútbol Centroamérica (in European Spanish). Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  28. ^ Cruz Valdivia, Christian (1 December 2022). "Mundial Qatar 2022 | Keylor Navas, el héroe 'Tico' que mantuvo a Costa Rica de pie | Alemania vs. Costa Rica | RMMD DTCC | MUNDIAL". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 December 2022.
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