Alajuelense Home football shirt 1994

1994 Alajuelense home football shirt. Home shirt used by Alajuelense during the first few matches of the 1994-95 season.

Alajuelense came on the heels of losing the 1993-94 finals against Tibás-based Saprissa (despite leading the tournament for most of the season) and had a slow start to the 1994-95 season, with two coaches (long-standing Czech(oslovak) sports manager Ivan Mraz and Costa Rican Juan Blanco in differing levels of caretaking roles) before bringing in Brazilian coach Valdeir Vieira to finish the season as runner-ups to Saprissa.

Despite the slow start, Alajuelense ended the group stage (44 matches long) one point below Saprissa, and won the playoff stage; which eventually forced the national finals in which the Tibás team had the upper hand.

Shirt #9 was used by Dennis Valverde in his final season with Alajuelense. Valverde was a defender (which made the number assignment odd) who returned to the team after a stint in Germany. Valverde had several appearances during the season, and was loaned out to Belén for the 1995-96 season. Valverde\'s later career was in the first tier\'s mid-table, and his son Gabriel has been a journeyman in the Costa Rican second tier.