What is La Nación?
La Nación is a Costa Rican daily newspaper and news site at nacion.com. The site's footer reads: “© 2026 Todos los derechos reservados, cualquier uso requiere autorización expresa y por escrito de La Nación S.A.”[1]
Ownership. Mediapolis, a media-ownership project of the University of Costa Rica, states: “La principal persona jurídica asociada es Grupo Nación GN S.A.” and “Este grupo está asociado a la familia Jiménez, principales accionistas de la empresa.”[2] The entry carries no update date, and no register entry was retrieved to anchor it to 2026.
Mediapolis lists La Teja and El Financiero among the group's other titles.[2] This entry covers La Nación's sports section, Puro Deporte, which sits on the path nacion.com/puro-deporte of the parent site.[1]
What does La Nación cover?
As retrieved on 26 September 2026, Puro Deporte carried items dated that day on the Costa Rica national team's coming Concacaf Nations League match against Haiti in Kingston, on the national coach's record, and on international football.[1]
Integrity reporting. On 28 July 2026 the section reported: “La Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (Fedefútbol), por medio de su Comisión Disciplinaria, sancionó con la exclusión por 10 años del fútbol profesional al equipo San Carlos FC, luego de que la Oficialía de Integridad desarrollara una investigación por amaño de cuatro partidos durante el 2025.”[4] It reported that San Carlos FC had played the 2024-2025 Liga de Ascenso season, and that Puerto Golfito FC had been excluded for ten years in 2024.[4]
A second report the same day stated that the federation had formally notified all its affiliated leagues that the franchise of Municipal Garabito, which had competed as San Carlos FC, “no podrá participar en el fútbol federado durante los próximos 10 años, por amaño de partidos”. It reported that the federation's legal department confirmed that, under a resolution of the Comisión Disciplinaria, a breach of article 66 of the Código Disciplinario had been established.[6] Both reports rest on the federation's own statements; the resolution itself was not retrieved.
The paper also reports the media market itself: its article of 31 July 2026 set out Similarweb's figures for Costa Rican news sites.[3]
How large is La Nación's audience?
No audited circulation or readership figure for La Nación was retrieved.
Web estimate. La Nación reported on 31 July 2026, from Similarweb data presented at the Data Media Day Costa Rica 2026 organised by the Cámara de la Comunicación Comercial (Camco), that nacion.com had 8.32 million monthly visits, ahead of CRHoy with 7.09 million, La Teja with 7.08 million, Diario Extra with 4.27 million and Teletica with 3.79 million.[3] It gave nacion.com 4.91 million monthly unique users, and La Teja, which Mediapolis lists as a title of the same group, 1.91 million.[3][2]
Two limits apply. Similarweb is a traffic estimator, not audited measurement. And the report is La Nación's own account of a ranking in which it appears first; it is attributed here, not adopted. The article does not state which month the figures cover.[3] The same report, on traffic referred by artificial-intelligence tools, credited nacion.com with 47.59 per cent of that traffic among the sites compared.[3]
Since when has La Nación existed?
Mediapolis states: “El periódico La Nación comienza a circular el 12 de octubre de 1946”.[2] That is a single secondary account; La Nación's own statement of its founding date was not retrieved.
Mediapolis's timeline for the group records under 1946: “Se imprime la primera edición del periódico La Nación.” It records the first edition of La Teja in 2006, the closure of “el periódico ¡Vuelta en U! y otros medios impresos” in 2013, and under 2018 that “Grupo Nación vende al Grupo Multimedios el Grupo Latino de Radiodifusión y las emisoras de radio”.[2] Its description states that the group has also diversified into real estate and entertainment.[2]
Why does La Nación matter in Costa Rica's sport?
La Nación publishes a named sports section that carried same-day national-team coverage on the build date, and it reported the football federation's disciplinary decision of July 2026 in the federation's own terms.[1][4] In Similarweb's estimate as La Nación reported it, nacion.com had more monthly visits than the other news sites named.[3]
Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 country entry, describes the media landscape as “diverse” and states that “The concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few conglomerates has limited media pluralism.” It names no outlet in those passages.[5]
References
- La Nación — Puro Deporte (sports section of nacion.com; items dated 26 September 2026; footer). Accessed 2026-09-26.
- Mediapolis (Universidad de Costa Rica) — Grupo Nación (legal person, shareholders, 1946, closures; undated entry). Accessed 2026-09-26.
- La Nación — ChatGPT ya ocupa el sétimo lugar entre los sitios web más visitados de Costa Rica (31 July 2026; Similarweb data presented at Camco’s Data Media Day Costa Rica 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
- La Nación — Nuevo amaño de partidos en Costa Rica: Fedefútbol expulsa a equipo profesional 10 años por manipular cuatro juegos (Esteban Valverde, 28 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
- Reporters Without Borders — Costa Rica country page, 2026 World Press Freedom Index (media landscape; economic context). Accessed 2026-09-26.
- La Nación — Fedefútbol ya comunicó a todas sus ligas expulsión de equipo profesional por amaño de partidos (Esteban Valverde, 28 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.