Alajuelense Home voetbalshirt  2008 - 2010

2008 - 2010 Alajuelense home voetbalshirt . The very first home shirt provided by PUMA when the sponsorship deal began in mid-2008. The above item is the short-sleeved version and player-issued, which interestingly was mass-sold on retail.

Alajuelense was slowly recovering from a serious financial crisis that threatened the club with bankruptcy. To top it off, Alajuelense lost the national final against Saprissa on June 2008. It was then decided that the club switched its focus to using youth talent, and brought Argentinian coach and former Vélez Sarsfield player Marcelo Hugo Herrera to take control of the first team. Both him and club president Jorge Hidalgo stated that no titles were guaranteed, however Alajuelense ended runner-up on the Invierno 2008. Herrera was not that lucky on the Verano 2009, whilst he had youth talent make first team appearances during the tournament, Alajuelense ended last on its group and eighth place overall, causing Herrera to be sacked. Herrera then returned to Costa Rica in 2010 to coach Pérez Zeledón and on late October 2014 he was named by FEDEFUTBOL as Director of the youth national teams. He also was assistant coach to Carlos Bianchi on the former's last stint at Boca Juniors.

First team duties were taken over by Brazilian coach Marco Octavio de Cerqueira, who was wooed away from Asociación Deportiva Ramonense. Despite the disastrous Verano, Alajuelense fandom responded in full-force when the club returned to the Alejandro Morera Soto stadium on July 2009 and packed it for a pre-season friendly against Venezuelan team Caracas FC, and the Wilmer López testimonial several days later. However, failure to win on most of the away matches caused de Cerqueira's team to struggle to qualify for the quarterfinals, requiring a tie at Cartago turf on the final day of the regular season. This proved fruitless as Cartago scored from a set piece on stoppage time at the end of the second half. De Cerqueira was sacked during the week, and quietly departed Costa Rica thereafter.

This shirt was used from the beginning of the Invierno 2008 to the end of the Invierno 2009. During the Invierno 2009 the HSBC sponsor had the new ICE sponsor ironed over it (as with the away shirt), however very few shirts with the ICE sponsor made it to retail (mostly confined to the Club Store).

Back printing is partially customized--midfielder Juan Ignacio Sills (during Herrera's days) and forward Érick Scott (during de Cerqueira's days) were assigned #29. Regular printing for this shirt was made with the infamous pixellated PUMA font (gold during Invierno 2008 and Verano 2009, white during Invierno 2009). Whilst the above item uses gold printing, it uses the font used in the away and third kits.