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.
Herediano entered as the defending champions, but lost the title in the Apertura finals to Pérez Zeledón.
Personnel and kits 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 Antonio Abasolo To be determined Pirma Dream Travels, Papa John's 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 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 TeamOutgoing managerManner ofdepartureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate ofappointmentUCR Mauricio WrightSacked17 April 2017Pre-season Marco Arias26 May 2017Cartaginés Jeaustin CamposResigned29 May 2017 Javier Delgado30 May 2017Liberia Erick RodríguezResigned27 July 2017 Vinicio Alvarado31 July 2017Alajuelense Benito FloroSacked21 August 20177th Wílmer López21 August 2017Guadalupe Luis FallasSacked4 September 201712th Antonio Abasolo4 September 2017Carmelita Guilherme FarinhaSacked28 September 201711th Mario Viquez124 November 2017Liberia Vinicio AlvaradoResigned7 November 201712th Fernando Castro (interim)7 November 2017Cartaginés Javier DelgadoMutual consent10 November 201710th Adrián Leandro222 November 2017Saprissa Carlos WatsonResigned17 December 20172nd (Quadrangular) Vladimir Quesada18 December 2017 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 Regular season 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.
On 3 September 2017, the match between Saprissa and Grecia was suspended at the 81st minute due to a false bomb threat. The remaining nine minutes were played the next morning.
Standings
Positions by round
Results
Quadrangular – Apertura Teams qualified Herediano Saprissa Santos de Guápiles Pérez Zeledón
Standings
Positions by round
Results
Apertura finals 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.
Season statistics Scoring
First goal of the season: Luis Stewart Pérez for Saprissa against Carmelita (30 July) Last goal of the season: Jeikel Venegas for Pérez Zeledón against Herediano (20 December)
Top goalscorers Source: Rank Player Club Goals1 Jonathan McDonaldAlajuelense152 Randall AzofeifaHerediano10 Josué MitchellPérez Zeledón4 Marvin AnguloSaprissa9 Lauro CazalPérez Zeledón José Guillermo OrtizHerediano7 Randall BrenesCartaginés8 Andrey FrancisLimón Aldo MagañaGuadalupe David RamírezSaprissa Keilor SotoPérez Zeledón
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Round Reference Randall Azofeifa Herediano Santos 4–1 (A) 27 September 2017 10 Julio César Cruz UCR 5–0 (H) 1 November 2017 18
Goalkeeping
RankPlayerClubMatchesGoalsAgainstAverage1 Leonel MoreiraHerediano21110,522 Daniel CambroneroHerediano430,753 Marco MadrigalCartaginés540,804 Kevin BriceñoSaprissa19170,895 Bryan MoralesSantos13131,006 Luis Carlos ZamoraCarmelita331,007 Carlos MéndezUCR17181,068 Bryan SeguraPérez Zeledón19211,119 Patrick PembertonAlajuelense18221,2210 Alejandro GómezSantos14181,29
Foreign players This is a list of foreign players in the 2017 Apertura season. The following players:
Have played at least one game for the respective club. 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.
TeamPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Alajuelense Iván Luquetta Jamille Boatswain Kurt Frederick Iago SoaresCarmelita Cristian Tissone Anderson Andrade Cartaginés Hernán Fener Fabrizio Ronchetti Nelson González Grecia Team has no foreign players in its squadGuadalupe Aldo Magaña Lautaro Ayala César Martínez Herediano Luis Ángel Landín Jonathan Hansen Julio César Cruz Liberia Boris Balinovic Vladimir Vujasinović Zoran Zec Alessio LavaLimón Cristian Rivas Jorge Luis Ruiz Víctor Pérez Pérez Zeledón Paulo Azcurra Lauro Cazal Luis Aseff Milton MartínezSantos Team has no foreign players in its squadSaprissa Henrique Moura Jerry Bengtson Mariano Torres Anderson LeiteUCR Mike Campaz Darío Bustos Edwards Jiménez Daniel Ocampo
References
External links UNAFUT - Primera División de Costa Rica