This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Costa Rica - Sport Flags

Last modified: 2008-07-19 by dov gutterman
Keywords: costa rica | sport | soccer | football |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors




See also:

Other sites:


Deportivo Saprissa


image by Ivan Sache, 9 February 2008


image by Ivan Sache, 9 February 2008

Deportivo Saprissa is one of the most famous football clubs in Costa Rica. Quoting the club's official website: "It was founded on July 16th, 1935 as Saprissa F.C., and joined the First Division on August 21st, 1949.
The Club was born in a humble shoe store that belonged to Fausto Leiva, where Roberto “Beto” Fernandez worked. He founded the team in a neighborhood called "La Concretera" in Barrio Los Angeles in San Jose. The members of this team held a meeting to decide the battle name for it. Several proposals were analyzed until Saprissa F.C. came up. It was accepted when “Beto” explained that Ricardo Saprissa, the beneficent guide of the Club, could get the uniforms. With Mr. Ricardo´s approval, the team appeared on the firmament of the national football on July 16th, 1935."
Ricardo Saprissa (1901-1990) was a brilliant sportsman. Born in El Salvador as the son of Catalan immigrants, Saprissa graduated  as a topograph engineer and movedback  to Barcelona with his mother. Champion of Spain in field hockey in 1928, he was officially recieved by King Alfonso XIII in his palace. Also a good tennis player, Saprissa   played tennis under the Spanish flag in the Paris Olympic Games (1924) and in the Davis Cup in 1930. However, his main achievements were obtained in football, as the winner of the national championship with Español Barcelona in 1929.
On 19 February 1932, Saprissa came back to Costa Rica to manage the family cloth factory. In 1935, he was appointed the first national coach of the Costa Rica team, winning the silver medal in the IIIrd Central American and Caribbean Games. He was again appointed national coach in 1938 and 1951. Saprissa presided Orión from 1938 to 1951, winning the national title in 1938, and Saprissa from 1948 to 1931.
Deportivo Saprissa won 26 national titles, including six successive titles from 1972 to 1977.  CONCACA champions in 2005, Deportivo Saprissia played in December 2005 the FIFA Club World Championship, finishing in third place.
The flag of Saprissa is purple ("morado") with the club's emblem in the middle, as shown on the "Symbols" page of the club's website. The club's emblem is a white shield outlined in black with a football ball and a purple, S-shaped dragon belching out an orange flame. The ball and the dragon are outlined in light purple. The name of the club is written in white capital letters in the white chief of the shield. The local legend says that the "morado" colour, adopted in 1937, was the result of the infortunate washing together of the former club's uniform parts, red shirts and blue shorts.
The "Welcome" page of the English section of the club's website shows a photography of the team posing in front of a white flag with the club emblem's in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 9 February 2008