La Catedral del Fútbol

Lore & Background

The team was created in 1919 when a group of friends that used to play in a team called the 'Electra' at first and then 'Once de Abril' met at 'Salon París'. They played their first official game on August 2 of that same year against Cartaginés, winning 3–1. Alajuelense was part of the 7 teams that formed the National League in Costa Rica in 1921. They won their first championship in 1928. They are the only team to win the championship with a perfect record; in 1941 they won all 6 games. In 1960, the team made a tour around the world, playing 24 games in 78 days. The club's best decade was the 1990s, during which they won 4 championships and 4 sub-championships. By the end of the 1990s and into the middle of the 2000s, they won 5 local championships, 2 Copa Interclubes UNCAF trophies, and a CONCACAF Club Championship. Alajuelense was the base for the Costa Rican football team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, fielding 9 players. The club struggled with financial and administrative problems in the second part of the 2000s decade but is now free of debts. On June 10, 2019, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary. In 2023, Alajuelense won the first CONCACAF Central American Cup.

In Their Own Story

It was a Tuesday in November, the kind of dry, high-altitude evening where the air bites at your lips and the floodlights turn the grass to silver. I arrived at the Azteca an hour before kickoff, threading through the Santa Úrsula streets where the smell of elote and charcoal smoke drifted from street vendors. The stadium rose ahead of me like a concrete amphitheatre carved into the hillside, its tiers already glowing with the first scattered blue of arriving fans.

Inside, the noise was a living thing. A man two rows ahead of me — grey-bearded, a faded 1986 shirt stretched over a heavy jacket — was already singing, eyes closed, swaying. Around him, a woman balanced a child on her shoulders, the kid drumming tiny fists on the concrete. The drums in the lower tier found a rhythm, and then the Ole began, low and guttural, building until the whole bowl seemed to inhale and exhale as one organism.

When the ball was kicked, the sound didn't stop; it just *changed key*, sharpening into a roar that I felt in my molars. And somewhere in that roar, I understood why they call it a cathedral. You don't watch the match here. You *attend* it.

Reader's Guide

The club plays its home matches at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, also known as 'The Cathedral.' The stadium is located in the El Llano neighborhood of Alajuela. It was renamed in 1966 in honor of Alejandro Morera. The first game at the stadium was played on January 18, 1942. The stadium saw its first night game on March 19, 1970. The stadium was enlarged and re-inaugurated in 1984. On April 8, 2021, the team announced plans for a new stadium, with an expected opening by January 2025. The team's mascot is a Lion and Lioness; the original mascot used to be a Mango. Sponsors include Kolbi, Tuasa, Repretel, Cementos Fortaleza, Toyota, and Mobil.

Did You Know?

• Alajuelense is one of two Costa Rican clubs to have never been relegated, alongside Herediano.
• As of January 2026, Alajuelense is the defending champion of the Liga FPD, having secured their 31st national title in the Apertura 2025 tournament.
• Alajuelense was ranked as the highest-placed Central American club in the official CONCACAF club rankings for 2026.
• The club's stadium was built partly through a 'March of Bricks' in 1949, where students donated bricks.