# 2011–12 Costa Rican Primera División season

The 2011–12 Primera División season is the 93rd of Costa Rica's top-flight professional football league. The season was divided into two championships: the Invierno and the Verano. The season began on 31 July 2011.

## Promotion and relegation

Universidad de Costa Rica finished last season in last place in the overall table at the end of last season and were relegated to the Segunda División. Replacing them in the league for this season are the overall champions of last season's Segunda División competition, Belén Siglo XXI.
Barrio México were expelled from last year's competition during the 2011 Verano tournament and were eventually relegated from the league due to various financial difficulties. They were not replaced for this season.
For this season, Brujas changed their name to Orión FC Desamparados.

## Format changes

Due to the reduction of the league to 11 teams for this season, the league's format was changed for this season. There would be no groups this season. Instead, for both tournaments, the clubs would play every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 20 matches each. At the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams in the league standings would participate in the playoffs. At the end of the season, the last place club would participate in a promotion-relegation playoff against the Segunda División overall runners-up, while the Segunda División overall champions would be promoted to next season's competition automatically.

## Average attendance

* Saprissa 14,990
* Alajuelense 9,720
* Herediano 4,064
* Limón 3,220
* Cartaginés 3,090
* Santos de Guápiles 2,058
* San Carlos 2,109
* Puntarenas 2,027
* Pérez Zeledón 1,119
* Belén 1,117
* Orión 544

## Team information

| Team | Manager | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| LD Alajuelense | Oscar "El Machillo" Ramírez | Alajuela | Alejandro Morera Soto | 17,895 |
| Belén Siglo XXI | Vinicio Alvarado | Belén | Estadio Polideportivo de Belén | 3,000 |
| C.S. Cartaginés | Jhonny Chávez | Cartago | Fello Meza | 13,500 |
| CS Herediano | Jafet Soto | Heredia | Rosabal Cordero | 8,144 |
| Limón F.C. | Hernán Fernando Sossa | Limón | Estadio Nuevo de Limón/Estadio Juan Gobán | 3,000/2,000 |
| Orión F.C. | Martín Arreola | Tarrazú | Estadio Municipal de Tarrazú | 1,500 |
| Municipal Pérez Zeledón | Mauricio Wright | San Isidro | Municipal | 6,000 |
| Puntarenas FC | Luis Fernando Fallas | Puntarenas | "Lito" Pérez | 4,105 |
| Asociación Deportiva San Carlos | Marvin Solano | Ciudad Quesada | Carlos Álvarez | 5,600 |
| Santos de Guápiles | Gustavo Martínez | Guápiles | Ebal Rodríguez | 3,000 |
| Deportivo Saprissa | Alexander Guimaraes | Tibás | Ricardo Saprissa | 23,000 |

## Campeonato de Invierno

The 2011 Campeonato de Invierno, officially the 2011 Campeonato de Invierno Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons, was the first tournament of the season. The tournament began on 31 July 2011 and ended on 18 December 2011.

### First stage
#### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Herediano | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 39 | 19 | +20 | 39 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 2 | Alajuelense | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 38 | 23 | +15 | 37 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Deportivo Saprissa | 20 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 34 | 21 | +13 | 35 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 4 | Cartaginés | 20 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 31 | 27 | +4 | 30 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 5 | Puntarenas | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 27 | 34 | −7 | 28 | |
| 6 | Pérez Zeledón | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 31 | 30 | +1 | 26 | |
| 7 | Santos | 20 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 27 | −1 | 25 | |
| 8 | San Carlos | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 33 | −11 | 21 | |
| 9 | Belén | 20 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 21 | 30 | −9 | 19 | |
| 10 | Limón | 20 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 19 | 30 | −11 | 19 | |
| 11 | Orión | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 34 | −14 | 17 | |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | ALA | BEL | CAR | HER | LIM | ORI | PEZ | PUN | SAC | SAN | SAP |
| Alajuelense | | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| Belén | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Cartaginés | 2–0 | 3–2 | | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Herediano | 4–0 | 1–1 | 6–3 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Limón | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| Orión | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–4 |
| Pérez Zeledón | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | | 7–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Puntarenas | 1–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–3 |
| San Carlos | 0–3 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 1–4 |
| Santos | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | | 3–2 |
| Deportivo Saprissa | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | |

### Second stage

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Herediano | 2 | 1 | 3 | | | | | |
| 4 | Cartaginés | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |
| 4 | Cartaginés | 1 | 0 | 1 | Herediano | Herediano | 1 | 1 (5) | 2 |
| | | | | | Alajuelense | Alajuelense | 1 | 1 (6) | 2 |
| 2 | Alajuelense | 1 | 2 | 3 | Alajuelense | Alajuelense | 1 | 1 (6) | 2 |
| 3 | Saprissa | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | |

### Finals
#### First leg
#### Second leg

2–2 on aggregate score, Alajuelense wins on penalties 6–5
* Campeonato de Invierno Scotiabank champion
* Alajuelense 27th title

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Randall Brenes | Cartaginés | 13 |
| 2 | Jairo Arrieta | Saprissa | 12 |
| 4 | José Luis Cordero | Herediano | 12 |
| 5 | Victor Núñez | Herediano | 9 |
| 6 | Yendrick Ruiz | Puntarenas | 8 |
| 6 | Olman Vargas | Herediano | 8 |
| 7 | Jonathan McDonald | Alajuelense | 7 |
| 7 | Kenny Cunnighan | San Carlos | 7 |
| 7 | Alejandro Castro | Santos | 7 |
| 8 | Ismael Gómez | Limón | 6 |
| 8 | Alejandro Alpízar | Alajuelense | 6 |
| 8 | Luciano Bostal | Pérez Zeledón | 6 |
| 8 | Josué Martínez | Saprissa | 6 |
| 9 | José Cancela | Herediano | 5 |
| 9 | Álvaro Sánchez | San Carlos | 5 |
| 9 | Diego Joaquín País | San Carlos | 5 |

## Campeonato de Verano

The 2012 Campeonato de Verano began on 15 January 2012 and ended in May 2012.

### First stage
#### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Pérez Zeledón | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 38 | 25 | +13 | 37 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 2 | Santos | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 32 | 28 | +4 | 37 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Deportivo Saprissa | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 38 | 23 | +15 | 36 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 4 | Herediano | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 33 | 20 | +13 | 34 | Advances to the Semifinals |
| 5 | Alajuelense | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 33 | |
| 6 | Cartaginés | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 33 | 30 | +3 | 33 | |
| 7 | San Carlos | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 29 | |
| 8 | Belén | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 28 | |
| 9 | Puntarenas | 20 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 23 | 35 | −12 | 18 | |
| 10 | Limón | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 18 | 37 | −19 | 16 | |
| 11 | Orión | 20 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 42 | −30 | 8 | |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | ALA | BEL | CAR | HER | LIM | ORI | PEZ | PUN | SAC | SAN | SAP |
| Alajuelense | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Belén | 4–2 | | 1–0 | 3–3 | 7–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–4 |
| Cartaginés | 2–2 | 3–2 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 1–3 |
| Herediano | 2–3 | 2–1 | 3–0 | | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Limón | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Orión | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–5 |
| Pérez Zeledón | 2–4 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | | 3–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Puntarenas | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| San Carlos | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 3–4 |
| Santos | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | | 0–1 |
| Deportivo Saprissa | 0–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | |

### Second stage

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Pérez Zeledón | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |
| 4 | Herediano | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | |
| 4 | Herediano | 1 | 2 | 3 | Herediano | Herediano | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| | | | | | Santos | Santos | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Santos | 0 | 1 | 1 | Santos | Santos | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Saprissa | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |

### Finals
#### First leg
#### Second leg

* Campeonato de Verano Scotiabank champion
* Herediano 22nd title

## Aggregate table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Herediano | 40 | 21 | 10 | 9 | 72 | 39 | +33 | 73 | Qualification for 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage |
| 2 | Deportivo Saprissa | 40 | 19 | 14 | 7 | 72 | 44 | +28 | 71 | |
| 3 | Alajuelense | 40 | 21 | 7 | 12 | 72 | 48 | +24 | 70 | Qualification for 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage |
| 4 | Pérez Zeledón | 40 | 18 | 9 | 13 | 68 | 54 | +14 | 63 | |
| 5 | Cartaginés | 40 | 17 | 12 | 11 | 64 | 57 | +7 | 63 | |
| 6 | Santos | 40 | 18 | 8 | 14 | 58 | 55 | +3 | 62 | |
| 7 | San Carlos | 40 | 13 | 11 | 16 | 45 | 59 | −14 | 50 | |
| 8 | Belén | 40 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 55 | 57 | −2 | 47 | |
| 9 | Puntarenas | 40 | 12 | 10 | 18 | 50 | 69 | −19 | 46 | |
| 10 | Limón | 40 | 9 | 8 | 23 | 37 | 67 | −30 | 35 | |
| 11 | Orión | 40 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 32 | 76 | −44 | 25 | Promotion-relegation playoff |