2018–19 Liga FPD


The 2018–19 Liga FPD season, also known as Campeonato Banco Popular for sponsorship reasons, is the 98th since its establishment. The tournament is the second since the 2006–07 season to use the Apertura and Clausura names to their short tournaments, marking a departure from the Invierno and Verano tournaments.
The Voit Lummo is the official match ball of the tournament. Deportivo Saprissa are the defending champions, after defeating Herediano in the Clausura 2018 tournament.

Teams and Structure Changes

A total of 12 teams will contest the league, including 11 sides from the 2017–18 season, one team promoted from the Liga de Ascenso.
San Carlos were promoted for the first time to the Liga FPD after defeating Jicaral in the Liga de Ascenso final, thus replacing Liberia in the Liga FPD.
For this season, the league has changed the playoff format. The top 4 teams in the regular season will progress to a two-legged knockout tournament. If the same team that wins the regular season wins the playoff, that team wins the season championship immediately. Should a different team win the playoff than won the regular season, those two teams will meet in a two-legged Grand Final for the season championship.

Personnel, kits and Stadia

TeamManagerKit manufacturerShirt sponsorStadiumCapacity
Alajuelense Luis Diego ArnáezKelmeClaroAlejandro Morera Soto
Carmelita Mario VíquezMonarcaAlmacenes DecavisaEstadio Rafael Bolaños
Cartaginés Martin ArriolaJomaBancrédito"Fello" Meza
Municipal Grecia Walter CentenoLiving SportsSuper RosvilEstadio Allen Riggioni
Guadalupe F.C. Geiner SeguraPirmaPapa John's PizzaEstadio José Joaquín "Coyella" Fonseca
Herediano Jaime de la PavaUmbrokölbiEladio Rosabal Cordero
Limón Ricardo Allen ThomasSportekAPM TerminalsEstadio Juan Gobán
Pérez Zeledón José GiaconeTextiles JBkölbiMunicipal de Pérez Zeledón
San Carlos Martin CardettiARNDos PinosEstadio Carlos Ugalde Álvarez
Santos Johnny ChavesCapelli SportGrupo ColonoEbal Rodríguez
Saprissa Vladimir QuesadaKappaBimbo, IbéricoRicardo Saprissa
UCR Minor DíazSaetaTBDEstadio Jorge Hernán "Cuty" Monge

Managerial changes

Before the start of the season

TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyReplaced byDate of appointmentPosition in table
CF Universidad de Costa Rica TBDResignedJune 2018 Octavio BermúdezJuly 2018TBD
Herediano TBDResignedJune 2018 Jaime de la PavaJuly 2018TBD
Cartaginés TBDResignedJune 2018 Paulo WanchopeJuly 2018TBD

During the Apertura season

Between the Apertura and Clausura season

During the Clausura season

Apertura

The Apertura tournament will be played in the second half of 2018, starting on 21 July.

Regular season

The regular season began on 21 July 2018 and ended on 11 November 2018.
On 17 October 2018, the match between Limón and Grecia was suspended in the 25th minute due to a waterlogged pitch. The remaining 65 minutes were played the next day.

Standings

Results

Playoffs

Semifinals

First legs
Second legs

Finals

First leg
Second leg

Grand final

If the regular season winners are unable to win the playoffs, a double-legged final will be played against the playoffs winner in order to determine the champions of the Apertura tournament. The team with the better accumulated record over the regular season and playoffs will host the second leg.

First leg

Second leg

Clausura

Regular season

The regular season began on 12 January 2019 and will end of 28 April 2019.

Standings

Results

Playoffs

Semifinals

First legs
Second legs
progress 4-3 on aggregate.
Saprissa progress 3-2 on aggregate.

Finals

First leg
Second leg
1-1 on aggregate. San Carlos wins 1-0 on away goals.

Grand final

If the regular season winners are unable to win the playoffs, a double-legged final will be played against the playoffs winner in order to determine the champions of the Clausura tournament. The team with the better accumulated record over the regular season and playoffs will host the second leg. For this tournament, San Carlos won both the regular season and playoffs, so they were declared champions without a grand final.

Aggregate table

List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in the 2018–19 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 is released and it's before the close of the season transfer window.
Alajuelense
Carmelita
Cartaginés
Grecia
Herdiano
Guadalupe
Limón
Pérez Zeledón
San Carlos
Santos de Guápiles
Deportivo Saprissa
Universidad
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