Floodlight Friday: Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica

Known as 'The Jewel of the Savanna' it's no secret as to why.

Ground: National Stadium of Costa Rica

Location: San José, Costa Rica

Home of: Costa Rica National Teams

Opened: 2011

Capacity: 35,062

The president of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias and the leader of People's Republic of China Hu Jintao, agreed to build the stadium during Arias' first visit to China in October 2007. The construction began on March 12, 2009, and it finished in 2011. The National Stadium of Costa Rica is a multi-purpose stadium in La Sabana Metropolitan Park, San José, Costa Rica. It is the first modern sport and event arena to be built in Central America with a final cost of $100 million.

It was used to host matches during the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup as well as the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup; including the opening games, the third place match and the Finals.

The main inaugurating event (March 26, 2011) was a friendly association football match between Costa Rica and China, which ended 2–2, with Álvaro Saborío scoring the first goal ever in the stadium.

During 2011, the new stadium was subject of a heavy investment made by the Costa Rican Football Federation to propel Costa Rican football into the world scene. To do this, the federation organized friendly matches against previous FIFA World Cup winners Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, with the latter being the then most recent winners of the tournament.