Costa Rican football clubs in international competitions

This is a list of Costa Rican football clubs in international competitions. Costa Rican clubs have participated in competitive international soccer competitions since at least 1962 for the first CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Costa Rican teams have traditionally been one of the more successful group of teams in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, winning the title six times and having five runners-up.

Who qualifies for CONCACAF competitions

Since 2024, Costa Rican teams do not directly qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The top four finishers of the Liga FPD, the top tier of football in Costa Rica, qualify for the CONCACAF Central American Cup, which is a regional tournament. If a Costa Rican team finishes in the top six, they earn a berth into the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Results by competition

FIFA Club World Cup

Year	Team	Progress	Score	Opponent
2005	Saprissa	Third place	3–2	Al-Ittihad

CONCACAF Champions' Cup / Champions League

Year	Team	Progress	Aggregate	Opponents	Results
1962	Alajuelense	Second round	4–5	Comunicaciones	3–2 home, 1–3 away
1962	Herediano	First round	0–5	Guadalajara	0–3 home, 0–2 away
1963	Saprissa	Semi-finals	0–3	Guadalajara	0–1 home, 0–2 away
1967	none entered
1968	Alajuelense	First round	1–2	Aurora	0–2 home, 1–0 away
1969	Saprissa	Semi-finals	3–4	Cruz Azul	2–2 home, 1–2 away
1970	Saprissa	Semi-finals	w/o	Cruz Azul	withdrew
1971	Alajuelense	Final	1–5	Cruz Azul
1971	Saprissa	Second round	4–5	Alajuelense	1–5 home, 3–0 away
1972	none entered
1973	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	w/o	Transvaal	withdrew
1973	Saprissa	Semi-finals	w/o	Transvaal	withdrew
1974	Cartaginés	First round	0–3	Motagua	0–2 home, 0–1 away
1974	Saprissa	First round	3–3 (4–5 p)	Aurora	2–1 home, 1–2 away
1975	Herediano	Quarter-finals	2–3	Saprissa	2–1 home, 0–2 away
1975	Saprissa	Semi-finals	2–4	Atlético Español	1–2 home, 1–2 away
1976	none entered
1977	Saprissa	Semi-finals	w/o	América	withdrew
1978	Cartaginés	First round	1–3	FAS	1–1 home, 0–2 away
1978	Saprissa	Semi-finals	0–3	Comunicaciones	0–1 home, 0–2 away
1979	Cartaginés	Quarter-finals	0–3	FAS	0–1 home, 0–2 away
1980	Herediano	First round	3–4	Marathón	3–1 home, 0–3 away
1981	none entered
1982	none entered
1983	Puntarenas	First round	w/o	Atlético Marte	withdrew
1983	Saprissa	First round	2–3	Suchitepéquez	2–2 home, 0–1 away
1984	Sagrada Familia	Second round	w/o	Comunicaciones	withdrew
1985	none entered
1986	Alajuelense	Winners	4–2	Transvaal	2–1 home, 2–1 away
1986	Saprissa	First round	2–3	Comunicaciones	0–3 home, 2–0 away
1987	Herediano	Group C	3rd place	Olimpia, Real España, Saprissa
1987	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	3–4	América	2–2 home, 1–2 away
1988	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	1–2	Olimpia	1–1 home, 0–1 away
1988	Puntarenas	Group B	4th place	Aurora, FAS, Olimpia
1989	Cartaginés	Group C	4th place	Herediano, Olimpia, Real España
1989	Herediano	Semi-finals	2–6	UNAM	1–1 home, 1–5 away
1990	none entered
1991	Alajuelense	Third round	0–3	Real España	0–2 home, 0–1 away
1991	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	1–4	Real España	1–2 home, 0–2 away
1992	Alajuelense	Final	0–1	América	0–1 neutral
1992	Saprissa	First round	2–4	América	0–0 home, 2–4 away
1993	Alajuelense	Second round	1–2	León	0–0 home,1–2 away
1993	Saprissa	Winners	1st place	León, Municipal, Robinhood
1994	Cartaginés	Winners	3–2	Atlante	3–2 neutral
1994	Herediano	Second round	4–6	Atlante	3–3 home,1–3 away
1995	Alajuelense	Third place	9–1	Moulien	9–1 neutral
1995	Saprissa	Winners	1–0	Municipal	1–0 home
1996	Alajuelense	Second round	2–5	Cruz Azul	0–2 home, 2–3 away
1996	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	3–4	Necaxa	2–2 home, 1–2 away
1997	Alajuelense	Second round	1–2	Cartaginés	0–0 home, 1–2 away
1997	Cartaginés	Quarter-finals	0–1	Guadalajara	0–1 neutral
1998	Alajuelense	Quarter-finals	0–2	Toluca	0–2 neutral
1998	Saprissa	Third place	2–0	León	2–0 neutral
1999	Alajuelense	Final	1–2	Necaxa	1–2 neutral
1999	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	2–3	Necaxa	2–3 neutral
2000	Alajuelense	Quarter-finals	1–2	D.C. United	1–2 neutral
2002	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	2–3	Pachuca	2–1 home, 0–2 away
2002	Saprissa	First round	1–3	Morelia	1–1 home, 0–2 away
2003	Alajuelense	Quarter-finals	3–5	América	3–1 home, 0–4 away
2004	Alajuelense	Winners	5–1	Saprissa	4–0 home, 1–1 away
2004	Saprissa	Final	1–5	Alajuelense	1–1 home, 0–4 away
2005	Saprissa	Winners	3–2	UNAM	2–0 home, 1–2 away
2006	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	1–2	América	1–2 home, 0–0 away
2006	Saprissa	Semi-finals	3–4	Toluca	3–2 home, 0–2 away
2007	Puntarenas	Quarter-finals	1–2	Houston Dynamo	1–0 home, 0–2 away
2008	Saprissa	Final	2–3	Pachuca	1–1 home, 1–2 away
2008–09	Alajuelense	Preliminary round	2–3	Puerto Rico Islanders	1–1 home, 1–2 away
2008–09	Saprissa	Group stage	3rd	Cruz Azul, D.C. United, Marathón
2009–10	Herediano	Preliminary round	2–6	Cruz Azul	2–6 home, 0–0 away
	Liberia	Preliminary round	3–6	Real España	3–0 home, 0–6 away
	Saprissa	Group stage	3rd	Columbus Crew, Cruz Azul, Puerto Rico Islanders
2010–11	Brujas	Preliminary round	4–6	Joe Public	2–2 home, 2–4 away
2010–11	Saprissa	Semi-finals	2–3	Real Salt Lake	2–1 home, 0–2 away
2011–12	Alajuelense	Group stage	3rd	LA Galaxy, Morelia, Motagua
2011–12	Herediano	Group stage	4th	Comunicaciones, Monterrey, Seattle Sounders FC
2012–13	Alajuelense	Group stage	2nd	Real Estelí, UANL
2012–13	Herediano	Quarter-finals	1–4	LA Galaxy	0–0 home, 1–4 away
2013–14	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	0–3	Toluca	0–1 home, 0–2 away
	Cartaginés	Group stage	2nd	LA Galaxy, Metapán
	Herediano	Group stage	2nd	América, Sporting San Miguelito
2014–15	Alajuelense	Semi-finals	4–4 (a)	Montreal Impact	4–2 home, 0–2 away
	Herediano	Semi-finals	3–6	América	3–0 home, 0–6 away
	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	0–5	América	0–3 home, 0–2 away
2015–16	Herediano	Group stage	2nd	Metapán, UANL
2015–16	Saprissa	Group stage	2nd	Santos Laguna, W Connection
2016–17	Herediano	Group stage	2nd	Plaza Amador, UANL
2016–17	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	0–4	Pachuca	0–0 home, 0–4 away
2018	Herediano	Round of 16	3–5	UANL	2–2 home, 1–3 away
2018	Saprissa	Round of 16	2–6	América	1–5 home, 1–1 away
2019	Herediano	Round of 16	2–5	Atlanta United FC	3–1 home, 0–4 away
2019	Saprissa	Round of 16	3–5	UANL	1–0 home, 1–5 away
2020	San Carlos	Round of 16	3–6	New York City FC	3–5 home, 0–1 away
2020	Saprissa	Round of 16	2–2 (a)	Montreal Impact	2–2 home, 0–0 away
2021	Alajuelense	Round of 16	0–2	Atlanta United FC	0–1 home, 0–1 away
2021	Saprissa	Round of 16	0–5	Philadelphia Union	0–1 home, 0–4 away
2022	Santos de Guápiles	Round of 16	0–6	New York City FC	0–2 home, 0–4 away
2022	Saprissa	Round of 16	3–6	UNAM	2–2 home, 1–4 away
2023	Alajuelense	Round of 16	2–4	Los Angeles FC	0–3 home, 2–1 away
2024	Alajuelense	Round of 16	1–5	New England Revolution	1–1 home, 0–4 away
	Herediano	Quarter-finals	1–7	Pachuca	0–5 home, 1–2 away
	Saprissa	Round one	5–6 (a.e.t.)	Philadelphia Union	2–3 home, 3–3 away

UNCAF Interclub Cup / CONCACAF Central American Cup

Interclub Cup Era (1971–1973)
Year	Team	Progress	Aggregate	Opponents	Results
1971	Herediano	Final round	3rd	Alianza, Atlético Marte, Cementos, Comunicaciones, Saprissa
1971	Saprissa	Final round	2nd	Alianza, Atlético Marte, Cementos, Comunicaciones, Herediano
1972	Alajuelense	Group B	3rd	Aurora, Alianza, Municipal, Puntarenas, Universidad
	Herediano	Group A	2nd	Atlético Marte, Cementos, Comunicaciones, Olímpica, Saprissa
	Puntarenas	Group B	6th	Aurora, Alajuelense, Alianza, Municipal, Universidad
	Saprissa	Winners	2–1	Aurora	1–0 home, 1–1 away
1973	Alajuelense	Final round	3rd	Aguila, Comunicaciones, Olímpica, Municipal, Saprissa
1973	Saprissa	Winners	5–4	Aguila	5–2 home, 0–2 away

Central American Cup Era (2023–)
Year	Team	Progress	Aggregate	Opponents	Results
2023	Alajuelense	Winners	4–1	Real Estelí	1–1 home, 3–0 away
	Cartaginés	Quarter-finals	1–6	Alajuelense	1–3 home, 0–3 away
	Herediano	Semi-finals	4–4 (4–5 p)	Alajuelense	2–2 home, 2–2 away
	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	2–3	Real Estelí	2–2 home, 0–1 away

CONCACAF League (defunct)

Year	Team	Progress	Aggregate	Opponents	Results
2017	Alajuelense	Round of 16	0–3	Olimpia	0–1 home, 0–2 away
2017	Santos de Guápiles	Final	1–1 (1–4 p)	Olimpia	1–0 home, 0–1 away
2018	Herediano	Winners	3–2	Motagua	2–0 home, 1–2 away
	Pérez Zeledón	Round of 16	2–3	FAS	1–1 home, 1–2 away
	Santos de Guápiles	Round of 16	3–3 (6–7 p)	Portmore United	1–2 home, 2–1 away
2019	Herediano	Round of 16	3–3 (6–7 p)	Waterhouse	1–2 home, 2–1 away
	San Carlos	Quarter-finals	1–2	Alianza	1–0 home, 0–2 away
	Saprissa	Winners	1–0	Motagua	1–0 home, 0–0 away
2020	Alajuelense	Winners	3–2	Saprissa	3–2 home
	Herediano	Round of 16	0–1	Real Estelí	0–1 home
	Saprissa	Final	2–3	Alajuelense	2–3 away
2021	Alajuelense	Round of 16	3–3 (a)	Guastatoya	2–2 home, 1–1 away
	Santos de Guápiles	Quarter-finals	3–4	Forge FC	3–1 home, 0–3 away
	Saprissa	Quarter-finals	5–5 (a)	Comunicaciones	4–3 home, 1–2 away
2022	Alajuelense	Final	4–5	Olimpia	2–2 home, 2–3 away
	Cartaginés	Round of 16	0–4	Real España	0–2 home, 0–2 away
	Herediano	Quarter-finals	2–4	Real España	1–1 home, 1–3 away

CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup / Giants Cup (defunct)

Copa Interamericana (defunct)

Year	Team	Progress	Aggregate	Opponent	Results
1987	Alajuelense	Runners-up	0–3	River Plate	0–0 home, 0–3 away
1994	Saprissa	Runners-up	4–6 (a.e.t.)	Universidad Católica	3–1 home, 1–5 away
1996	Cartaginés	Runners-up	0–2	Vélez Sársfield	0–0 home, 0–2 away
1997	Saprissa	Runners-up	2–3	Atlético Nacional	2–3 home, 0–0 away

External links

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