This is a record of Costa Rica's results at the FIFA World Cup, an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The Costa Rica national football team's history at the FIFA World Cup is relatively recent, as they missed the tournament for sixty years from its inception in 1930 until their first appearance at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the team's only participation at the tournament in the 20th century. The 21st century has seen Costa Rica qualifying to most editions of the FIFA World Cup, with the exception of 2010, which they narrowly missed, and 2026.

In 2014, Costa Rica had its best performance at a FIFA World Cup. On 6 December 2013, Costa Rica was drawn into Group D with Uruguay, Italy, and England, the only group in FIFA World Cup history to feature three former world champions who, at the time, stood within the top 10 of the FIFA Men's World Ranking. Expectations for Costa Rica were overwhelmingly low, and that the team would finish in the thirty-second place. Instead, Costa Rica topped the group undefeated, with two victories and one draw, and only one goal received. After defeating Greece at the round of 16 through the penalty shoot-outs, and losing through the same means at the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, Costa Rica left the World Cup among the eight best teams, undefeated, and conceding only two goals, the least of all participants of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Sports-news outlets such as Goal and Mundo Deportivo rank Costa Rica's performance in 2014 as one of the biggest surprises in FIFA World Cup history. Such a performance at the World Cup boosted Costa Rica's prestige in the international scene, as fifteen of the twenty-three players of the squad changed teams in the two transfer windows following the World Cup, including goalkeeper Keylor Navas signing for Real Madrid. Both the Costa Rican performance at the 2014 World Cup and Navas' subsequent, successful stint with Real Madrid had a significant impact on Costa Rican sports, economy, tourism, and society.

Costa Rica ranks third in FIFA World Cup appearances within the CONCACAF region, and first within the UNCAF subregion, in which they hold as many participations as the rest of Central America combined. Costa Rica remains the only Central American team to win a match at a World Cup, which they have done six times, and the only team within that region to qualify past the group stage, which they have done twice.

The Borges family, namely father Alexandre Guimarães and son Celso Borges, have accompanied Costa Rica through all the team's appearances at the FIFA World Cup. Guimarães participated as a player in 1990, then as a coach in 2002 and 2006, while Celso played in 2014, 2018, and 2022.

Overall record

FIFA World Cup recordYearRoundPosition* 1930Did not enter 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958Did not qualify 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990Round of 1613th420246 1994Did not qualify 1998 2002Group stage19th311156 200631st300339 2010Did not qualify 2014Quarter-finals8th523052 2018Group stage29th301225 202227th3102311 2026Did not qualify 2030To be determined 2034TotalQuarter-finals6/232165102239 *Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total

Matches

1990 FIFA World Cup

2002 FIFA World Cup

2006 FIFA World Cup

2014 FIFA World Cup

2018 FIFA World Cup

2022 FIFA World Cup

Player records Most appearances

Rank Player Matches World Cups1 Celso Borges 11 2014, 2018, and 2022Keylor Navas3 Joel Campbell 10 2014, 2018, and 20224 Christian Bolaños 9 2006, 2014, and 2018Óscar Duarte 2014, 2018, and 2022Bryan RuizYeltsin Tejeda8 Cristian Gamboa 8 2014 and 2018Giancarlo González10 Michael Umaña 7 2006 and 2014

Goalscorers

Sixteen Costa Ricans have scored for the national team throughout their six participations at the FIFA World Cup. RankPlayerGoalsWorld Cups1Rónald Gómez32002 (2) and 2006 (1)Paulo Wanchope2002 (2) and 2006 (1)3Bryan Ruiz220144 Joel Campbell 1 2014Juan Cayasso 1990Óscar Duarte 2014Róger Flores 1990Keysher Fuller 2022Rónald González 1990Hernán Medford 1990Winston Parks 2002Yeltsin Tejeda 2022Marco Ureña 2014Juan Pablo Vargas 2022Kendall Waston 2018Mauricio Wright 2002

In addition to these players, Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer scored an own goal for Costa Rica in 2018.

Squads 1990 FIFA World Cup squad 2002 FIFA World Cup squad 2006 FIFA World Cup squad 2014 FIFA World Cup squad 2018 FIFA World Cup squad 2022 FIFA World Cup squad

Individual awards Golden Glove 1990: Luis Gabelo Conejo (shared) Player of the Match: Eight times. 2002: Rónald Gómez (against China) and Paulo Wanchope (against Turkey) 2014: Joel Campbell (against Uruguay), Keylor Navas (three times: against England, Greece, and the Netherlands), and Bryan Ruiz (against Italy) 2022: Keysher Fuller (against Japan)

See also Costa Rica at the CONCACAF Gold Cup Costa Rica at the Copa América North, Central American and Caribbean nations at the FIFA World Cup

References

External links FIFA.com – Costa Rica on FIFA.com