Club Sport Herediano

On Monday, May 9th, the first round of the First Division Summer Tournament Finals will be played at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadiumn in the city of Alajuela, province of the same name.

The most storied clubs in the history of professional football in Costa Rica will repeat the May 2015 finals, when Club Sport Herediano (CSH), a legendary club owned by an association presided by an expat businessman from the United States, will face Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA).

Back in 2015, CSH won the tournament, and fans rejoiced at the extraordinary comeback they have enjoyed since David Patey injected the needed capital, dedication and effort to steer the club back into greatness.

Earlier this year, the esteemed British newspaper The Guardian published a lengthy profile on Mr. Patey and his unlikely ascent to football greatness in Costa Rica:

Patey had just placed himself center stage in an ownership group which had taken over a high-profile soccer club. Stranger still: he became the gringo frontman of a beloved team in a ferocious soccer hotbed. Costa Rica. [He] had been living in Costa Rica for a number of years. After first moving south from his home in Utah primarily to learn Spanish, he and his young family eventually settled in Central America, where he began to assume several business interests.

When Patey became interested in CSH back in 2012, the club was strong from a tactical point of view, but its future was uncertain from a business point of view. Through his business dealings, Patey came to hold shares in the entity that owned the club. Two other U.S. expats, a Canadian and a Tico, all CSH fans, joined in as partners, and the club once again blossomed in terms of financial stability, player satisfaction and fan adulation.

These days, CSH enjoys one of the most loyal fan followings in Costa Rica’s First Division. The club has received accolades for making its Eladio Rosabal Cordero stadium a venue that is both affordable and comfortable for families.

In two years, Mr. Patey will be able to celebrate the 100th anniversary of CSH as a football association, but he will have to wait until 2021 to celebrate the official registration in the First Division. CSH fans will surely hope that Mr. Patey hold on to the club until then.