Club Sport Herediano closed the Clausura 2026 tournament in championship style Saturday night, defeating Deportivo Saprissa 2-0 in the second leg of the final and taking the series 3-2 on aggregate to claim its 32nd national title.
The result at Estadio Carlos Alvarado in Santa Bárbara gave the rojiamarillos the trophy without the need for a grand final, a fitting finish for the team that had been one of the strongest sides of the tournament. Teletica reported that Herediano won the title as the best team of the tournament and avoided a grand final with the victory.
Herediano entered the match needing to overturn Saprissa’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg. After a tense first half, the game changed after the break. Luis Ronaldo Araya came on and gave Herediano the movement and control it had lacked, helping open the Saprissa defense and shifting the rhythm of the final.
The breakthrough came in the 56th minute. Araya created the play on the right side and set up Keysher Fuller, who finished from outside the area to make it 1-0 and level the series. Then Marcel Hernández delivered the moment that decided the title. The Cuban striker scored in the 76th minute after driving into the box and beating Saprissa’s defense, giving Herediano the 2-0 lead it needed to take the aggregate and lift the trophy.
Hernández’s goal carried extra weight because he later revealed he had played the final while injured. He said he had not trained during the week, played through knee pain and asked to come off after scoring because he could no longer continue. Araya’s second-half impact also became one of the key stories of the night. His entry gave Herediano more attacking energy, and his assist on Fuller’s opener helped break open a match that had been tight and short on chances through the first 45 minutes.
The final also carried the edge expected from a Herediano-Saprissa matchup. Before kickoff, Saprissa midfielder Mariano Torres drew attention after video showed him greeting Herediano players during the protocol line but not Keyner Brown or Marcel Hernández, a moment that quickly drew reaction from fans online.
For Saprissa, the defeat extended a frustrating run. The club’s last national league title came in the Clausura 2024, and the loss to Herediano means the morados have now gone two years without a domestic championship. For Herediano, the win marked another major step in its recent run of success. The club has now won three of the last four national tournaments: Apertura 2024, Clausura 2025 and Clausura 2026.
For those of us following Costa Rican soccer, the championship closes one of the biggest dates on our country’s domestic football calendar. The next major point of interest will be the Apertura 2026 kickoff, when Liga FPD begins a new title race and our country’s biggest clubs reset for another run at the national championship.
