Dream of a New Liberia Begins With Football

By Zoraida Diaz

Liberia Mia is only third in their group, and over the weekend, they lost to the nation’s soccer darling Saprissa. But if ever losing was an accomplishment, Liberia Mia, made their fans feel they had been the true winners.

Last year, before the coup, Liberia was on their way to being kicked out of the first division. And then, Mario Sotela, movie producer and businessmen decided to take over the team that was going nowhere.

With Liberia, a bargain of a team at almost a quarter of a million dollars, he has turned it into a diamond in the rough that glimmers with greater promise after every match.

He’s brought in Colombian coach Carlos Restrepo to lead the charge, as well as two Colombian players, a Frenchman and some of the best players in the country. And of course, behind it all, there’s a marked French influence.

There’s the team’s technical director Nicola Philibert, and above him, is Michel Hidalgo, former coach of the National French Squad.

Mr Sotela has found a new sponsor for Liberia Mía through the efforts of the great Hidalgo.
“Nike has decided to sponsor us for the next three years,” he announces sitting on the edge of his chair.

Liberia Mía and the National French Squad.

© Zoraida Diaz

The French Squad to the tune of $ 60 million. Liberia Mía to the tune of the prestige brought to Costa Rican players wearing the famed winged slash on their cleats, and shirts and socks, right on down to the team’s minor league players’ uniforms.

It may be Mr Hidalgo used Liberia Mía as leverage in the negotiations to sponsor the French squad…not such an unlikely scenario considering Nike’s penchant for acquiring the stars of the marketing firmament.

“We are the only team in Central American Nike sponsors,” Mr Sotela says mischievously.

It’s obvious, Mr Sotela may not go through many a day without consulting with Mr Hidalgo.

And that may very well be the secret to turning a perennial underdog into a National champion.

Mr Sotela knows the process is a slow one, a process that could take up to two years.

It’s been only six months and the improvement is staggering.

The start of the season saw Liberia Mía accumulate more points in the first four games of the season than in ten games in past tournaments. The pace changed somewhat and Liberia Mía lost three games and added a tie, but they remain third in their group and if they stay solid and steady, they will go on to the final phase of the Summer Tournment.

© Zoraida Diaz

Liberia Mía’s striker William Sunsing has scored five goals in the tournament, second only to Saprissa’s Alejandro Alpízar with seven. Also, four players have been selected to play in Costa Rica’s national squad.

There are other enterprises more familiar if equally unpredictable to Mr Sotela. He is adept at multitasking. There’s the game on Sunday; he flies to Paris on Monday to prepare for the Cannes Film Festival and of course, there’s the other small project he’s working on.

“We’re going to turn Liberia into a tourism destination,” he announces.

One smiles politely, thinking of the difficulties of listing Liberia alongside the never ending beach at Tamarindo, or the cosmopolitan city on the water in Jacó, or the stunning rock outcrops of Papagayo.

But apparently, there’s no madness in Mr Sotela’s vision, merely a characteristic unflappable conviction.

“There’s a stadium that will seat 12,000 people, and surrounding it, there will be a hotel, restaurants, a soccer school, a trilingual school, a music school, an aquatic park, an amphitheater, commercial center, movie house, four apartment buildings and houses,” he says as he quickly draws a design of the new city on a reporter’s notebook.

“We are going to create a city outside Liberia,” he enthuses eagerly describing the classical columns, the esplanades, and the hanging walkways over the stadium that he envisions.

He has thought of a few names for the new city, but he refuses to budge. He can only confide that an offer of a French company to build the stadium is tied to the right to name the stadium.

© Zoraida Diaz

It sounds like Mr Sotela will keep the right to name his creation for himself. The right to name the New Liberia.

And the required tourism-destination-view?

“The fútbol matches, from your apartment,” he says.

All that on a ten-hectare spread right alongside the Private Reserve Africa Mia some ten kilometers from Liberia: a $ 25 million project that will revitalize the area and bring five-star tourism to the White City.

As the sun drops over the Guanacaste horizon behind the zebras and giraffes, Mr Sotela looks at his watch thinking once again about the game.

He is fidgety, on edge.

“Before Liberia Mía, I didn’t know what suffering was,” he says, “I only knew peace.”