Costa Rica women's national football team explained

The Costa Rica women's national football team (es|Selección femenina de fútbol de Costa Rica|link=no) represents Costa Rica in women's international football. The national team is controlled by the governing body Costa Rican Football Federation. They are one of the top women's national football teams in the Central American region along with Guatemala and Panama.

Since 2010s, Costa Rica has emerged in women's football, and akin to their men's counterparts, its women's side is also visibly recognised as a stern and competitive opponent despite relative recent entrance to the big stage. In Costa Rica's first World Cup in 2015, despite being rated the weakest team in the group, Costa Rica shocked the tournament with two points by drawing against strong Spain and South Korea sides, and was only eliminated by a late goal from Brazil.^{[1] [2] [3]}

History

The Costa Rican team just started to play an international match in 1990, when Central America was on struggle about developing women's football. The success of men's team helped the FCF to believe on the women's team. Their first tournament, was the 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship when Costa Rica finished third and was out from the group stage.

Despite this, Costa Rica started gaining success in the 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship and 1999 Pan American Games when Costa Rica won bronze both. But later, Costa Rica did not gain much successful achievement, as the national team was still on struggle under the shadow of men's team.

At the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship, Costa Rica surprisingly won silver, after losing 0–6 to the USA in the final. Their second-place finish secured them a spot in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. This marked the first time Costa Rica would play in a FIFA Women's World Cup.

Costa Rica was drawn into a group with Brazil, South Korea and Spain for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Costa Rica secured two shocking draws over Spain (1–1) and South Korea (2–2), but then lost 1–0 to Brazil and were eliminated in the group stage.^[4]

At the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, Costa Rica was hoping to once again qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup. They won their first group match 8–0 over Cuba. However they lost their second match 1–0 to Jamaica in which they controversially had a goal disallowed in the second half.^[5] Costa Rica would lose their final group match to Canada 3–1, elimating their chances of qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[6]

Costa Rica has done much better in the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, taking second place after wins over Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. Though unable to repeat the 2014 feat, only finished fourth in process, the win allowed Costa Rica to return to the Women's World Cup in 2023.

Team image

Nicknames

The Costa Rica women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as "" or "".

Home stadium

Costa Rica plays their home matches on the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica.

Results and fixtures

See also: 2022 in association football, 2022 in sports and FIFA International Match Calendar.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

2024

See Also

• Costa Rica Results and Fixtures – Soccerway.com
• Costa Rica Results and Fixtures – FIFA.com

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Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Name	Nat	Position
Benito Rubido [7]		Head coach
Edgar Rodríguez		Assistant coach
Patricia Aguilar		Assistant coach
Eli Avila		Goalkeeping coach
Bryan Mora		Physical coach

Manager history

Name	Nat	Year
Jorge Álvarez		1976
Guillermo Soto		1991
Didier Castro		1998-1999
Luis Diego Castro		2000
Leroy Lewis		2000
Didier Castro		2001
Ricardo Rodríguez		2002-2006
Allan Brown		2006 (interim)
Juan Diego Quesada		2008 - 2009
Randall Chacón		2010
Karla Alemán		2011 - 2012
José Luis Díaz		2013
Garabet Avedissian [8]		2014
Amelia Valverde		2015-2023
Ana Patricia Aguilar		2023 (interim)
Edgar Rodríguez		2023 (interim)
Benito Rubido		2023–Present

Players

Up-to-date caps, goals, and statistics are not publicly available; therefore, caps and goals listed may be incorrect.

Current squad

• The following players were named for the friendly game against in October 2024.^[9]
  Caps, goals, and players' numbers accurate as of 4 December 2023 after match vs. .

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to a Costa Rica squad in the past 12 months.

}Notes:

Preliminary roster

Previous squads

FIFA women's World Cup

• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup squad

CONCACAF W Championship

• 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying squad
• 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship squad
• 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship squad

Records

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

Most capped players

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Top goalscorers

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Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

See main article: Costa Rica at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Year	Result
1991	Did not qualify
1995	Did not enter
1999	Did not qualify
2003
2007
2011
2015	Group stage	3	0	2	1	3	4
2019	Did not qualify
2023	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	8
2027	To be determined
Total	Group stage	6	0	2	4	4	12

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

FIFA Women's World Cup history
Year	Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Stadium
2015	Group stage	9 June		D 1–1	Olympic Stadium, Montreal
		13 June		D 2–2
		17 June		L 0–1	Moncton Stadium, Moncton
2023	Group stage	21 July		L 0–3	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington
		26 July		L 0–2	Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
		31 July		L 1–3	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record										Qualifying record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1996	Did not enter									1995 FIFA WWC
2000	Did not qualify	1999 FIFA WWC
2004	5	2	0	3	8	11
2008	6	2	1	3	11	7
2012	8	6	0	2	25	12
2016	7	5	0	2	22	10
2020	6	4	0	2	15	8
2024	9	6	0	3	29	6
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		41	25	1	15	110	54

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

CONCACAF Women's Championship

CONCACAF Women's Championship record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1991	Group stage	3	1	0	2	2	11		Invited
1993	Did not enter	Did not enter
1994
1998	Third place	5	3	0	2	11	7		3	2	0	1	23	3
2000	Group Stage	3	0	1	2	2	18		3	2	1	0	24	5
2002	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	8	14		4	4	0	0	16	3
2006	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	1	4
2010	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	4	11		2	2	0	0	4	0
2014	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	10	9		3	3	0	0	10	0
2018	Group stage	3	1	0	2	9	4		3	3	0	0	18	2
2022	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	7	6		4	4	0	0	22	0
Total	Runners-up	34	15	1	18	53	80		24	20	1	3	118	17

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

CONCACAF W Gold Cup

CONCACAF W Gold Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2024	Quarterfinals	4	1	0	3	2	5
Total	1/1	4	1	0	3	2	5

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Pan American Games

Pan American Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1999	Bronze medal	6	1	1	4	4	17
2003	Group stage	2	0	0	2	2	5
2007	Did not enter
2011	Group stage	3	0	1	2	5	8
2015	Group stage	3	1	0	2	2	5
2019	Bronze medal	5	3	1	1	10	6
Total	Bronze medal	19	5	3	11	23	41

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Central American and Caribbean Games

Central American and Caribbean Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2010	Did not enter
2014	Bronze medal	5	4	0	1	14	5
2018	Silver medal	5	4	0	1	8	5
2022	To be determined
Total	Silver medal	10	8	0	2	22	10

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Central American Games

Central American Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2001	Gold medal	4	4	0	0	18	3
2013	Gold medal	5	5	0	0	27	1
2017	Gold medal	5	4	1	0	19	2
2022	Cancelled
Total	Gold medal	14	13	1	0	64	6

• Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

FIFA World Ranking

See also: FIFA Women's World Rankings. Last update was on June 25, 2021Source:^[10]

Best Ranking   Worst Ranking   Best Mover   Worst Mover  

Costa Rica's History
Rank	Year	Best	Worst
Rank	Move	Rank	Move
36	2021	—	—	—	—
35	2020	35	1	36	1
37	2019	36	1	38	1
37	2018	32	1	37	3
33	2017	30	1	33	1
29	2016	29	4	30
34	2015	34	3	37
37	2014	37	3	40
40	2013	40		40
40	2012	40	1	40
41	2011	41	3	44	2
41	2010	41	6	47	4
46	2009	46		46
46	2008	45	3	48	1
48	2007	48	1	50	1
49	2006	46	2	49	1
46	2005	45		46	1
45	2004	45	1	45
46	2003	45		46	1

See also

• Sport in Costa Rica
  • Football in Costa Rica
    • Women's football in Costa Rica
• Costa Rica women's national football team
  • Costa Rica women's national football team results
  • List of Costa Rica women's international footballers
• Costa Rica women's national under-20 football team
• Costa Rica women's national under-17 football team
• Costa Rica men's national football team

External links

• Official website
• Costa Rica profile at FIFA.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: Costa Rica draws with Spain 1–1 at FIFA Women's World Cup opening match in Canada . 10 June 2015 .
2. Web site: FIFA Women's World Cup: Costa Rica ties 2–2 with South Korea, makes it to second place in its group . 14 June 2015 .
3. Web site: Brazil eliminates Costa Rica in Women's World Cup . .
4. Web site: COSTA RICA. October 13, 2018.
5. Web site: Jamaica stuns Costa Rica, controversially, to set up dramatic Group B finale. October 13, 2018. October 8, 2018.
6. Web site: Jamaica advance to face USWNT, Canada eliminates Costa Rica. October 13, 2018. October 11, 2018.
7. Web site: Español Beni Rubido es el nuevo Director Técnico de la Selección Mayor Femenina - Federación Costarricense de Fútbol .
8. Web site: Avedissian leaves Costa Rica women’s post . http://web.archive.org/web/20151003140738/http://www.concacaf.com/article/avedissian-leaves-costa-rica-womens-post/ . 3 October 2015 . 5 January 2015 . concacaf.com.
9. Web site: Estas son las convocadas del Profesor Beni Rubido para los fogueos del 27 y 30 de octubre de la Sele Femenina ante Panamá. . www.fcrf.cr. es.
10. Web site: Costa Rica in the FIFA World Ranking. July 26, 2021.