2017–18 Liga FPD – Apertura season

The 2018 Apertura season served as the opening half of the 2017–18 Liga FPD association football season. It began on 29 July 2017 and ended on 23 December 2017.

Liga FPD
Season2017–18
Dates29 July[1] – 23 December[2]
ChampionsPérez Zeledón (1st title)
CONCACAF League or CONCACAF Champions LeaguePérez Zeledón
Matches played146
Goals scored426 (2.92 per match)
Top goalscorerJonathan McDonald
(15 goals)
Biggest home winSaprissa 6–1 Grecia
(3/4 September 2017)
Santos 5–0 Grecia
(29 October 2017)
Herediano 5–0 UCR
(1 November 2017)
Biggest away winGuadalupe 0–4 Santos
(15 October 2017)
Cartaginés 2–6 Carmelita
(25 October 2017)
Liberia 1–5 Saprissa
(19 November 2017)
Highest scoringCartaginés 2–6 Carmelita
(25 October 2017)
Longest winning run5 matches
Herediano (Two times)
Longest unbeaten run22 matches
Herediano
Longest winless run8 matches
Guadalupe
UCR (Two times)
Longest losing run6 matches
Alajuelense
Guadalupe
Liberia
Highest attendance17,037
Saprissa 2–0 Alajuelense
(29 October 2017)[3]
Lowest attendance210
Santos 4–0 Pérez Zeledón
(30 July 2017)[3]
Total attendance388,793[3]

Herediano entered as the defending champions, but lost the title in the Apertura finals to Pérez Zeledón.

Personnel and kits edit

Team Chairman Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Alajuelense Fernando Ocampo   Wílmer López   Patrick Pemberton Puma Toyota, Claro, Volaris
Carmelita Isidro Zamora   Mario Víquez   Carlos Acosta Sportek Great Wall Motors, Universidad Santa Lucía
Cartaginés Luis Vargas   Adrián Leandro   Danny Fonseca Joma Bancrédito, Premium, TWO
Grecia Dagoberto Matamoros   Walter Centeno   Daniel Vallejos ProSport ROES, Super Rosvil
Guadalupe Vacant[4]   Antonio Abasolo To be determined Pirma Dream Travels, Papa John's[5]
Herediano David Patey Hernán Medford   Óscar Granados Umbro Kölbi, Huawei, San Miguel, Coca-Cola, Papa John's, Toyota
Liberia Julio Salas   Víctor Abelenda   Rafael Núñez Prosport[6] Pulmitan, Condovac, Toyota, Philips, Papa John's
Limón Noel Ferguson   Horacio Esquivel   Kareem McLean Sportek Reina's
Pérez Zeledón Juan Artavia   José Giacone   Keilor Soto Living Sport Kölbi, Tracopa
Santos Rafael Arias   Johnny Chávez   Edder Monguío Living Sport El Colono, Eusse, CopyVisión
Saprissa Carlos Watson   Vladimir Quesada   Daniel Colindres Kappa Bimbo, Ibérico
UCR Fernando Ocampo Cano   Marco Arias   Darío Delgado Roma INS

Managerial changes edit

Team Outgoing manager Manner of
departure
Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of
appointment
UCR   Mauricio Wright Sacked 17 April 2017[7] Pre-season   Marco Arias 26 May 2017[8]
Cartaginés   Jeaustin Campos Resigned 29 May 2017[9]   Javier Delgado 30 May 2017[10]
Liberia   Erick Rodríguez Resigned 27 July 2017[11]   Vinicio Alvarado 31 July 2017[12]
Alajuelense   Benito Floro Sacked 21 August 2017[13] 7th[13]   Wílmer López 21 August 2017[13]
Guadalupe   Luis Fallas Sacked 4 September 2017[14] 12th   Antonio Abasolo 4 September 2017[14]
Carmelita   Guilherme Farinha Sacked 28 September 2017[15] 11th   Mario Viquez1 24 November 2017[16]
Liberia   Vinicio Alvarado Resigned 7 November 2017[17] 12th   Fernando Castro (interim) 7 November 2017[17]
Cartaginés   Javier Delgado Mutual consent 10 November 2017[18] 10th   Adrián Leandro2 22 November 2017[19][18]
Saprissa   Carlos Watson Resigned 17 December 2017[20] 2nd (Quadrangular)   Vladimir Quesada 18 December 2017[21]
Notes
  • 1: Mario Viquez had already assumed as interim manager of Carmelite following Farinha's departure on 28 September.
  • 2: Adrián Leandro had already assumed as interim manager of Cartaginés following Delgado's departure on 10 November.

League table edit

Regular season edit

Defending champions Herediano topped the season undefeated with 54 points. By achieving this, Herediano broke two records in the league. They became the first team with the longest undefeated streak (surpassing the 21-match streak by Saprissa in the 2003–04 season, the team being coincidentally managed by Hernán Medford). The team also broke the record for more points achieved in a regular season, surpassing Alajuelense in the 2014 Invierno season.[22]

On 3 September 2017, the match between Saprissa and Grecia was suspended at the 81st minute due to a false bomb threat.[23] The remaining nine minutes were played the next morning.[24]

Standings edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Herediano 22 16 6 0 41 12 +29 54 Advanced to the quadrangular and a possible final
2 Saprissa 22 13 4 5 50 27 +23 43 Advanced to the quadrangular
3 Santos de Guápiles 22 11 7 4 46 28 +18 40
4 Pérez Zeledón 22 10 6 6 43 33 +10 36
5 Alajuelense 22 8 7 7 38 31 +7 31
6 Grecia 22 8 7 7 31 37 −6 31
7 Limón 22 7 9 6 35 36 −1 30
8 Cartaginés 22 4 11 7 27 38 −11 23
9 UCR 22 4 8 10 16 28 −12 20
10 Carmelita 22 4 6 12 29 38 −9 18
11 Guadalupe 22 3 7 12 22 36 −14 16
12 Liberia 22 4 2 16 23 57 −34 14
Updated to match(es) played on 16 November 2017. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) head-to-head goals scored; 7) draw

Positions by round edit

Quadrangular and possible final
Quadrangular
Relegation (Aggregate table)
Team ╲ Round12345678910111213141516171819202122
Herediano7421111111111111111111
Saprissa3112222222222222222222
Santos1256377767676433333333
Pérez Zeledón1212129643346743344444444
Alajuelense2335765433334567776775
Grecia11763436654457756665566
Limón4584554575565675557657
Cartaginés5891111119888888991011109988
UCR864789101111119109888888899
Carmelita1010101212121110910111111111099910101010
Guadalupe6971091012121212121212121211121111111111
Liberia9111181088910910910101112101212121212
Source: [citation needed]

Results edit

Home \ Away ALA CRM CAR GRE GUA HER LIB LIM PEZ SAN SAP UCR
Alajuelense 1–3 3–3 3–0 0–1 0–1 3–0 3–2 3–3 2–2 2–0 2–1
Carmelita 1–1 1–1 0–1 3–1 0–1 1–4 0–1 2–1 1–1 0–2 1–2
Cartaginés 2–2 2–6 2–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 3–4 1–1
Grecia 0–3 1–1 0–0 1–1 0–1 4–0 3–3 0–3 2–1 1–1 1–0
Guadalupe 1–1 1–1 2–3 0–3 1–2 4–0 1–3 1–2 0–4 1–2 1–1
Herediano 3–2 2–0 3–0 2–1 0–0 4–1 2–0 2–1 2–2 1–1 5–0
Liberia 0–2 2–1 0–3 1–4 4–1 0–2 3–1 2–2 0–2 1–5 2–3
Limón 1–1 2–2 3–1 1–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–2 1–1 3–1 2–1
Pérez Zeledón 3–2 3–1 3–3 2–2 1–1 0–1 4–0 2–0 4–1 1–2 3–1
Santos 2–1 3–2 4–0 5–0 0–2 1–4 4–2 2–2 4–0 3–2 0–0
Saprissa 2–0 4–2 3–0 6–1 1–0 1–1 4–0 5–2 1–2 1–2 1–0
C.F. Universidad de Costa Rica 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–2 1–1
Updated to match(es) played on 22 November 2017. Source: UNAFUT.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Quadrangular – Apertura edit

Teams qualified edit

Standings edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Pérez Zeledón 6 4 1 1 9 6 +3 13 Final
2 Saprissa 6 3 1 2 7 6 +1 10
3 Herediano 6 2 0 4 5 5 0 6 Final
4 Santos de Guápiles 6 1 2 3 3 7 −4 5
Source: UNAFUT.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) head-to-head goals scored; 7) draw

Positions by round edit

Champions
Team ╲ Round123456
Pérez Zeledón112111
Saprissa321222
Herediano443333
Santos234444
Source: [citation needed]

Results edit

Home \ Away HER PEZ SAN SAP
Herediano 1–2 2–0 0–1
Pérez Zeledón 1–0 1–0 3–2
Santos 0–2 1–1 0–0
Saprissa 1–0 2–1 1–2
Updated to match(es) played on 17 December 2017. Source: UNAFUT.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Apertura finals edit

Since regular season leaders Herediano were unable to top the quadrangular stage, a double-legged final will be played against the quadrangular winner Pérez Zeledón in order to determine the champions of the Apertura tournament. By getting more points in the aggregate table, Herediano will host the second leg.[25]

Pérez Zeledón1–0Herediano
Venegas   15'

Herediano0–0Pérez Zeledón
Referee: Keylor Herrera

Season statistics edit

Scoring edit

 
Saprissa's Luis Stewart Pérez scored the first goal of the Apertura tournament

Top goalscorers edit

Source: [28]

Rank Player Club Goals
1   Jonathan McDonald Alajuelense 15
2   Randall Azofeifa Herediano 10
  Josué Mitchell Pérez Zeledón
4   Marvin Angulo Saprissa 9
  Lauro Cazal Pérez Zeledón
  José Guillermo Ortiz Herediano
7   Randall Brenes Cartaginés 8
  Andrey Francis Limón
  Aldo Magaña Guadalupe
  David Ramírez Saprissa
  Keilor Soto Pérez Zeledón

Hat-tricks edit

Player For Against Result Date Round Reference
  Randall Azofeifa Herediano Santos 4–1 (A) 27 September 2017 10 [1]
  Julio César Cruz UCR 5–0 (H) 1 November 2017 18 [2]

Goalkeeping edit

 
Leonel Moreira's four consecutive clean sheets helped him become the goalkeeper with the most consecutive minutes without receiving a goal in Herediano, and eighth in the history of the league[29]
Rank Player Club Matches Goals
Against
Average[30]
1   Leonel Moreira Herediano 21 11 0,52
2   Daniel Cambronero Herediano 4 3 0,75
3   Marco Madrigal Cartaginés 5 4 0,80
4   Kevin Briceño Saprissa 19 17 0,89
5   Bryan Morales Santos 13 13 1,00
6   Luis Carlos Zamora Carmelita 3 3 1,00
7   Carlos Méndez UCR 17 18 1,06
8   Bryan Segura Pérez Zeledón 19 21 1,11
9   Patrick Pemberton Alajuelense 18 22 1,22
10   Alejandro Gómez Santos 14 18 1,29

Foreign players edit

This is a list of foreign players in the 2017 Apertura season. The following players:

  1. Have played at least one game for the respective club.
  2. Have not been capped for the Costa Rica national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace

A new rule was introduced this season, that clubs can have four foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or a player(s) is released and it's before the close of the season transfer window.

Team Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
Alajuelense   Iván Luquetta   Jamille Boatswain   Kurt Frederick   Iago Soares
Carmelita   Cristian Tissone   Anderson Andrade
Cartaginés   Hernán Fener   Fabrizio Ronchetti   Nelson González
Grecia Team has no foreign players in its squad
Guadalupe   Aldo Magaña   Lautaro Ayala   César Martínez
Herediano   Luis Ángel Landín   Jonathan Hansen   Julio César Cruz
Liberia   Boris Balinovic   Vladimir Vujasinović   Zoran Zec   Alessio Lava
Limón   Cristian Rivas   Jorge Luis Ruiz   Víctor Pérez
Pérez Zeledón   Paulo Azcurra   Lauro Cazal   Luis Aseff   Milton Martínez
Santos Team has no foreign players in its squad
Saprissa   Henrique Moura   Jerry Bengtson   Mariano Torres   Anderson Leite
UCR   Mike Campaz   Darío Bustos   Edwards Jiménez   Daniel Ocampo

[31]

References edit

  1. ^ Molina, José Pablo (28 July 2017). "A las puertas de un nuevo certamen". UNAFUT.com (in European Spanish). UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  2. ^ Molina, José Pablo (20 June 2017). "Últimos campeones abrirán en casa el certamen de Apertura 2017". www.unafut.com (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 2017-06-25. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Asistencia y recaudación". UNAFUT.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  4. ^ Martínez, Daniel (15 June 2017). "Olman Vega no es más presidente de Guadalupe FC". Radio Monumental. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  5. ^ Jiménez, Daniel (27 July 2017). "Uniforme de local de Guadalupe FC @nacion @PuroDeporteLNpic.twitter.com/F2flcMe1W5". Twitter. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Nuestras equipaciones para el Torneo de Apertura 2017.pic.twitter.com/6L7tSyURsS". Municipal Liberia on Twitter. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  7. ^ Oviedo, Steven (17 April 2017). "Mauricio Wright queda fuera de la UCR". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  8. ^ Retana, Pedro (26 May 2017). "UCR apuesta por un D.T. tipo Pinto". Diario Extra (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  9. ^ Brenes, Cristian (29 May 2017). "Jeaustin Campos deja el Cartaginés y apunta al Blooming de Bolivia". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  10. ^ Villarreal, Juan Diego (30 May 2017). "El primer rival de Javier Delgado será un Cartaginés en problemas económicos". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  11. ^ Martínez, Daniel (27 July 2017). "Erick Rodríguez renunció a la dirección técnica de Liberia". Radio Monumental. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  12. ^ "Vinicio Alvarado asume la dirección técnica del Municipal Liberia - Website Oficial Municipal Liberia". Website Oficial Municipal Liberia (in European Spanish). Municipal Liberia. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  13. ^ a b c Tayver, Fanny (21 August 2017). "Alajuelense confirma: Wílmer López asume en lugar de Benito Floro". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  14. ^ a b Araya, José Fernando (4 September 2017). "Guadalupe FC separa a Luis Fernando Fallas como técnico". Teletica (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2017-09-06. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  15. ^ Oviedo, Steven (28 September 2017). "Carmelita destituye a Guilherme Farinha". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  16. ^ Solano Salas, Adriana (25 November 2017). "Junta directiva de Carmelita ratificó la dupla de Mario Víquez-Luis José Herra para Clausura 2018". El Mundo CR (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  17. ^ a b Jiménez, Daniel. "Vinicio Alvarado renunció a Liberia". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  18. ^ a b Contreras, Paulo (10 November 2017). "Javier Delgado no continúa en el Cartaginés - Club Sport Cartaginés". C.S. Cartaginés (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  19. ^ Contreras, Paulo (22 November 2017). "Adrián Leandro es oficialmente Director Técnico del Cartaginés". cartagines.cr (in European Spanish). C.S. Cartaginés. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  20. ^ "Urgente: Carlos Watson no sigue en el Saprissa | laprensalibre.cr". www.laprensalibre.cr. 17 December 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  21. ^ Naranjo, Julio. "Vladimir Quesada es el nuevo técnico del Saprissa". Teletica (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  22. ^ Brenes, Cristian (21 November 2017). "Herediano impone récords aplastando dentro y fuera de casa". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  23. ^ Álvarez, Cristian (3 September 2017). "El partido Saprissa-Grecia fue suspendido por una falsa amenaza de bomba". Diario Digital Nuestro País (in European Spanish). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  24. ^ "Comunicado Oficial: Evacuación del estadio Ricardo Saprissa". UNAFUT.com. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 18 December 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  25. ^ "Resultados". unafut.com (in European Spanish). Retrieved 17 December 2017. En esta serie final el equipo local en el segundo juego sera el mejor ubicado en la tabla acumulada
  26. ^ "FIFA Referees News: Costa Rica : 2017 Torneo Apertura Final". 23 December 2017.
  27. ^ Álvarez, Cristian (30 July 2017). "Luis Stewart Pérez anotó el primer gol del Apertura 2017". Diario Digital Nuestro País. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  28. ^ "Goleadores". UNAFUT.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  29. ^ Segura, Geovany (20 August 2017). "¡Mejor que Hermidio y Wardy! Esto logró Leonel Moreira". La Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  30. ^ "Porteros". UNAFUT.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  31. ^ "Extranjeros Campeonato BP Apertura 2017". www.unafut.com (in European Spanish). UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2018-01-11.

External links edit