Costa Rica announce Miguel Herrera as new head coach

Mexican coach Miguel Herrera was named Tuesday as Costa Rica's new head coach, the first of that nationality to lead the ‘Ticos’ in history, with the main mission of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, the Costa Rican Football Federation (FCRF) said.
"After an exhaustive selection process that concluded with a final shortlist, the FCRF executive committee, in conjunction with the new sporting director, Ignacio Hierro, made the decision to appoint Herrera as coach of the national team," the FCRF said in a statement.
Herrera, 56, is the first Mexican to coach the Costa Rican national team in its history and will be officially presented in the coming days.
The new coach will face friendly matches in 2025, a play-off against Belize in March for a ticket to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, eventually the Gold Cup in the middle of the year and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Herrera coached the Mexico national team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the team reached the round of 16, and in 2015 won the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
His coaching career also includes stints with Mexican teams such as America, with whom he was champion twice, Atlante, Monterrey, Veracruz, Tecos, Tijuana and Tigres.
Costa Rica was left without a coach last August when Paraguay paid the contract termination clause of Argentine Gustavo Alfaro, after Costa Rica had performed well at the 2024 Copa America with a very young team, drawing with Brazil, beating Paraguay and losing to Colombia.
Following Alfaro's departure, the position was taken over on an interim basis by the then FCRF sporting director, Argentinian Claudio Vivas. However, last December the FCRF decided not to renew Vivas' contract as sporting director or as coach.
In the position of sporting director, the FCRF appointed Mexican Ignacio Hierro, who has been important for the arrival of ‘Piojo’ to the national team.