Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá

thumb|200px">
Estadio Ricardo Saprissa.Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá is one of the main sports stadiums in Costa Rica. It is located in San Juan de Tibás, San José. With a capacity of 24,000, it is the highest capacity stadium in the country. The stadium is the home of Deportivo Saprissa, and was named in honour of the team's founder, Ricardo Saprissa.

History

Saprissa play home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, named after Ricardo Saprissa. They originally played at the Costa Rica National Stadium, which rented and shared.

In 1955 Ricardo Saprissa embarked on a search for a site which could be used as a training ground and also be a possible location for a permanent stadium that Deportivo Saprissa could call their own. He wanted easy access to the location and for it to be near the capital city of San Jose, but also at the same time he wanted to be close enough to the other provincial cities such as Alajuela, Cartago, and Heredia. On 3 August, 1965 after ten years of searching he agreed to buy land in San Juan de Tibás for 363,398.90 colones. Construction began on 12 October, 1966. The location would be first built into a football pitch with stands but technically it would not be considered a stadium. On 27 August, 1972 after six years of construction and upgrades Estadio Ricardo Saprissa was officially opened. The first match was between Deportivo Saprissa and Comunicaciones of Guatemala. The match ended in a 1-1 draw Peter Sandoval of Comunicaciones scoring the first goal at the new stadium.

In 2003 due to the long tropical rainy seasons, Saprissa applied and was granted by FIFA, the right to change the pitch from natural grass to synthetic turf, becoming the only stadium in Latin America to have this type of turf. The stadium has also been used for Costa Rica national team matches. It was the second largest football stadium in Costa Rica after the National Stadium which no longer exists. The stadium has a seating capacity of 23,112 and is overlooked by local mountains and downtown San Jose. A new stadium is currently being built.

In 2005, the stadium became the first stadium to host a World Cup qualifying match on FieldTurf.

The stadium has staged concerts including artists such as:
*The Black Eyed Peas
*Carlos Santana
*Alejandro Sanz
*Luis Miguel
*RBD
*Chayanne
*Shakira
*Cafe Tacuba
*Enanitos Verdes
*Andrea Bocelli
*Franco De Vita
*Ricardo Montaner
*Maná
*Olga Tañón
*Gilberto Santa Rosa
*Víctor Manuel
*Marc Anthony
*Iron Maiden (February 26, 2008)
*Martin Valverde