Deportivo Saprissa

Deportivo Saprissa, also known as Saprissa or Deportivo 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 (La Cueva). The club's success has led to the Costa Rican press nicknaming the team El Monstruo Morado ("The Purple Monster"), a reference to their purple-coloured playing kit.

Saprissa is one of the most successful clubs in North America having won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup three times - in 1993, 1995, and 2005. They have also won five Central American crowns in 1972, 1973, 1978, 1998, and 2003 as well as 27 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. 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 with three first place finishes and four runners-up finishes. Their six consecutive national Costa Rican titles from 1972 to 1977 is a national record. The club has won a record 27 national titles and 8 short championships as well as three official international tournaments and ten international championships.

History

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 in 1949 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 Universidad Nacional in the final over two legs in May 2008. 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 shirts and blue shorts, were 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.

The history of the nickname El Monstruo Morado (The Purple Monsters) 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 purple monster". Saprissa immediately adopted the nickname El Monstruo Morado.

Stadium

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

A new site for a stadium was bought in 1965 and after a number of years construction 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 Peter Sandoval of Comunicaciones scoring the first goal at the new stadium.

The stadium is called "La cueva del Mounstro"(The monster's cave), because "El mounstro morado" plays there.

The stadium has a seating capacity of 23,112 and is overlooked by local mountains and downtown San Jose. A new stadium is currently being built.

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.

Players

Current squad

As of 2008

See also -

• List of notable Deportivo Saprissa players

Non-playing staff

Name	Role
Mariano Varela	Vice President
Victor Badilla	Football Operations Manager
Mario Jiménez	Commercial Manager
Jeaustin Campos	Head Coach
Randall Row	Assistant Coach
Ronald González	Assistant Coach
Pier Luigi Morera	Head Athletic Trainer
Roger Mora	Goalkeeping coach
Willy Gálvez	Team Physician

Former coaches

1950s - 1960s

• Francisco García
• Eduardo Viso Abella
• Otto Pedro Bumbell
• Carlos Peucelle
• Alfredo Piedra
• José Ramos
• Mario Cordero

Gavelo Conejo

1970s

• Marvin Rodríguez
• Geovanny Rodríguez
• Guillermo Hernández
• Jozef Karel

1980s

• Giovanny Rodríguez
• Raúl Betancourt
• Jozef Bouska
• Odir Jaques