 Fonseca in 2021 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rolando Fonseca Jiménez | ||
| Date of birth | (1974-06-06)6 June 1974 (age 51) | ||
| Place of birth | San José, Costa Rica | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Second striker Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Saprissa | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1995 | Saprissa | 28 | (33) |
| 1996 | Pachuca | 27 | (9) |
| 1996 | Independiente Medellín | 12 | (7) |
| 1997 | América de Cali | 22 | (0) |
| 1997 | Alajuelense | 11 | (2) |
| 1998–2000 | Comunicaciones | 40 | (44) |
| 2000–2001 | Saprissa | 34 | (18) |
| 2001–2002 | La Piedad | 12 | (5) |
| 2002–2007 | Alajuelense | 117 | (61) |
| 2003 | →Comunicaciones (loan) | 23 | (10) |
| 2006 | →Comunicaciones (loan) | 17 | (4) |
| 2007 | Municipal Liberia | 15 | (5) |
| 2008–2011 | Comunicaciones | 79 | (36) |
| 2012 | Carmelita | 3 | (0) |
| Total | 440 | (234) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992–2011 | Costa Rica | 113 | (47) |
| 2000 | Costa Rica(futsal) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Rolando Fonseca Jiménez (born 6 June 1974) is a Costa Rican former professionalfootballer who played as aforward.
NicknamedEl Principito (The little prince)[1] andEl Rolo,[2] Fonseca usually playedjust off themain striker and was renowned for his ability to create opportunities for his teammates and his fierce long shot.[3]
With 47 goals, Fonseca is theCosta Rica national team's all-time top goalscorer.[4]
Fonseca played forComunicaciones in Guatemala,Independiente Medellín andAmérica de Cali in Colombia,Pachuca andLa Piedad in Mexico, as well as having home spells withSaprissa,Alajuelense andMunicipal Liberia.
In Costa Rica, he played a total of 271 games, scoring over 100 goals, between the league's two best teams, Saprissa and Alajuelense. His debut was withDeportivo Saprissa, on 1 June 1991, againstASODELI, and scored his first goal againstSan Carlos on 28 August.[5] He also won Costa Rican championships in 1993–94, 1994–95 (Saprissa), and 1996–97, 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2004–05 (Alajuelense), adding threeCONCACAF Champions' Cups in 1993, 1995 (Saprissa), and 2004 (Alajuelense).[6] Outside Costa Rica, Fonseca won league titles with Comunicaciones in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, and 2010, and with América de Cali in 1997.[6]
After solid performances with Alajuelense and the national team, Fonseca received offers in 2007 from China, Chile, Turkey andMajor League Soccer, but finally settled, as co-owner, player andcaptain ofMunicipal Liberia.[7] Although he was having a great season, he left the project a few days before finishing theApertura tournament, apparently due to personal issues and some differences with then co-owner Mario Sotela.[8] Rumors surfaced that Fonseca would return to Alajuelense, but they were all quickly discarded.
After failed negotiations withBrujas, Fonseca returned to Comunicaciones, a team he had already represented on two other spells, remaining as one of side's best imports ever. Fonseca retired in January 2011, but a year and seven months later, he made his return to professional football by joiningAsociación Deportiva Carmelita on 19 August 2012.[9] After three matches with Carmelita, he was released in September 2012. Coach Orlando de León cited that Fonseca has been busy with his other activities besides football.[10]
Fonseca has also been a fixture on theCosta Rica national team since 1992. He played in more than 100 internationals, and is currently the nation's all-time scorer, with 47 goals.[4]
Fonseca earned his first cap at the age of 17 on 27 May 1992, in a friendly match againstEcuador.[4] By November of that year, he appeared in a1994 World Cup qualifier againstSt. Vincent and the Grenadines,[11] the first of his five World Cup qualifying campaigns for Costa Rica.[4][12] The following year saw Fonseca's first international goal, which came on 9 March in an UNCAF Nations Cup match againstPanama.[4][13]
By late 1996, Fonseca had become a regular in the national team, playing fourWorld Cup qualifiers in the fall.[4] He scored a hat trick againstHonduras in the1997 UNCAF Nations Cup,[14] the first of three in his international career.[4] He earned a call to the squad for theCopa América in Bolivia, but he appeared only in the first-round match againstMexico as the team lost all three group games.[15]
At the turn of the millennium, Fonseca was entering the highest-scoring stretch of his international career; he scored eight times for Costa Rica in 1999, six times in 2000, and twelve times in 2001.[4] During the same period, Costa Rica rose fast in CONCACAF, finishing in first place inWorld Cup qualifying.[16] At the2001 Copa América, Fonseca appeared in all four matches and scored againstBolivia, as the Costa Ricans won their first-round group with a team that also includedPaulo César Wanchope,Walter Centeno, andHernán Medford.[17] Fonseca played in two games for the team at the2002 World Cup, appearing in the first-round matches against China[18] andBrazil.[19]
Fonseca remained in the national team after the World Cup, playing in the2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup and scoring twice against theUnited States,[20] but he was limited to only one cap in 2004 and two in 2005.[4] He was excluded from the2006 FIFA World Cup squad selected byAlexandre Guimarães.[21] Upon the appointment of former teammate Medford as national coach, however, Fonseca returned to the national team in early 2007.[22] He appeared only once for Costa Rica during the two-year span after the2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but he was recalled late in 2009 for the last stages ofWorld Cup qualifying by coachRené Simões.[23] Fonseca played his final competitive international match in the intercontinental playoff match againstUruguay on 18 November 2009, coming off the bench for the last 26 minutes.[4][24]
His 47th and last international goal came againstChile, in a spectacular strike with his back to the goal, which also meant the number 1000 for Costa Rica in international matches.[25] The all-time top scorer in theUNCAF Nations Cup with 19 goals,[26] Fonseca was voted the tournament's best player in 1999, adding five goals.[27]
On 26 March 2011, Rolando Fonseca played in the first game of the new Costa RicanEstadio Nacional againstChina.[1] He substitutedÁlvaro Saborío in the 78th minute.[28] This was his last game with the Costa Rica national football team, as he retired from international play as Costa Rica's all-time leading scorer.
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Rica | 1992 | 6 | 0 |
| 1993 | 7 | 3 | |
| 1994 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 4 | 3 | |
| 1996 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 9 | 4 | |
| 1999 | 10 | 8 | |
| 2000 | 8 | 6 | |
| 2001 | 21 | 12 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2003 | 12 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 12 | 5 | |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 113 | 47 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 March 1993 | Estadio Nacional Chelato Uclés,Tegucigalpa, Honduras |  Panama | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1993 UNCAF Nations Cup | [30] |
| 2 | 31 March 1993 | Estadio Atanasio Girardot,Medellín, Colombia |  Colombia | 1–2 | 1–4 | Friendly | [31] |
| 3 | 23 June 1993 | Estadio Nacional,San José, Costa Rica | Panama | 2–0 | 3–1 | Friendly | [32] |
| 4 | 1 December 1995 | Estadio Nacional Flor Blanca,San Salvador, El Salvador |  Belize | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup | [33] |
| 5 | 7 December 1995 | Estadio Nacional Flor Blanca, San Salvador, El Salvador |  Honduras | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup | [34] |
| 6 | 10 December 1995 | Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador |  El Salvador | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup | [35] |
| 7 | 23 April 1997 | Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores,Guatemala City, Guatemala | Honduras | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup | [36] |
| 8 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 9 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 10 | 27 April 1997 | Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala |  Guatemala | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup | [37] |
| 11 | 24 February 1999 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá,San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica |  Jamaica | 4–0 | 9–0 | Friendly | [38] |
| 12 | 5–0 | ||||||
| 13 | 17 March 1999 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | Belize | 2–0 | 7–0 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | [39] |
| 14 | 6–0 | ||||||
| 15 | 24 March 1999 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | Guatemala | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | [40] |
| 16 | 26 March 1999 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | Honduras | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | [41] |
| 17 | 28 March 1999 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | El Salvador | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | [42] |
| 18 | 18 August 1999 | Estadio Centenario,Montevideo, Uruguay |  Uruguay | 3–4 | 4–5 | Friendly | [43] |
| 19 | 1 July 2000 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto,Alajuela, Costa Rica | Panama | 1–1 | 5–1 | Friendly | [44] |
| 20 | 3–1 | ||||||
| 21 | 4–1 | ||||||
| 22 | 23 July 2000 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica |  United States | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [45] |
| 23 | 3 September 2000 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica |  Barbados | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [46] |
| 24 | 15 November 2000 | Estadio Carlos Salazar Hijo,Mazatenango, Guatemala | Guatemala | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [47] |
| 25 | 6 June 2001 | Miami Orange Bowl,Miami, United States | Guatemala | 2–1 | 5–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [48] |
| 26 | 4–1 | ||||||
| 27 | 28 February 2001 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | Honduras | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [49] |
| 28 | 18 April 2001 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica |  Venezuela | 1–0 | 2–2 | Friendly | [50] |
| 29 | 23 May 2001 | Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano,San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Belize | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2001 UNCAF Nations Cup | [51] |
| 30 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 31 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 32 | 16 June 2001 | Estadio Azteca,Mexico City, Mexico |  Mexico | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [52] |
| 33 | 1 July 2001 | Estadio Nacional Chelato Uclés, Tegucigalpa, Honduras | Honduras | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [53] |
| 34 | 19 July 2001 | Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín, Colombia |  Bolivia | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2001 Copa América | [54] |
| 35 | 5 September 2001 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | United States | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [55] |
| 36 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 37 | 17 January 2002 | Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States |  Martinique | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [56] |
| 38 | 19 January 2002 | Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States |  Trinidad and Tobago | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [57] |
| 39 | 8 June 2003 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica |  Chile | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | [58] |
| 40 | 26 July 2003 | Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States | United States | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [59] |
| 41 | 2–1 | ||||||
| 42 | 9 October 2004 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | Guatemala | 5–0 | 5–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [60] |
| 43 | 4 February 2007 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | Trinidad and Tobago | 4–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [61] |
| 44 | 9 February 2007 | Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador | Honduras | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [62] |
| 45 | 3–1 | ||||||
| 46 | 16 February 2007 | Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador | El Salvador | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup | [63] |
| 47 | 28 March 2007 | Estadio Fiscal de Talca,Talca, Chile | Chile | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly | [64] |
Saprissa
Alajuelense
Comunicaciones
Costa Rica
Individual
Rolando Fonseca international tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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