My Country Spotlight journey continues through Latin America and the Caribbean, and this week I've reached a country that has played a particularly important role in the development of the region's modern darts circuit.
Costa Rica.
Costa Rica hasn't yet produced a PDC World Championship qualifier. It hasn't reached the PDC World Cup of Darts.
But when the Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Tour began in 2023, San José was where it all started.
And three years later, Costa Rica has one of the deeper groups of competitive players I've encountered during this part of the series.
At the front of them is Guillermo Soto.
Where The CDLC Story Began
The creation of the CDLC Tour was a major development for darts across Latin America and the Caribbean.
For the first time, players across a huge geographical region had a structured PDC-affiliated circuit providing a pathway towards the biggest stages in the game.
And its inaugural weekend took place in San José, Costa Rica, in August 2023.
Two ranking tournaments were staged at the Radisson Hotel, representing the first PDC-sanctioned Tour weekend of its kind in the region.
That alone gives Costa Rica an interesting place in darts history.
But the home players weren't simply there to make up the numbers.
Guillermo Soto – Costa Rica's Leading Player
If Costa Rican darts currently has a standard bearer, it is Guillermo Soto.
Soto finished third on the inaugural 2023 CDLC Order of Merit, behind Guyana's Norman Madhoo and Sudesh Fitzgerald and one place ahead of fellow Costa Rican Alex Gutierrez.
Later that season, he reached the final of Event Four in Santiago.
Soto averaged 81.24 while whitewashing Jafet Vanegas 6–0 in the quarter-finals and then defeated Gutierrez 6–2 before losing 6–4 to Brazil's Arthur Valle in the final.
He has since gone one better, becoming a CDLC event champion, and remains firmly established among the region's strongest players.
After the opening three events of 2026, Soto sat fifth on the two-year CDLC Order of Merit, behind only Jesús Salate, Rashad Sweeting, Norman Madhoo and Sudesh Fitzgerald.
That's impressive company.
What The Q4QS Database Tells Us
Soto's 2026 Q4QS numbers strengthen the case.
Across the three opening CDLC events captured in my database, he played 14 matches and won 11, a win rate of 78.6%.
He reached two semi-finals and a quarter-final, recording an overall match average of 66.82 and a best of 76.09.
There is one important qualification.
Soto has only three qualifying events in this particular Q4QS dataset, so he doesn't yet have an official Q4QS Average. I require six events before awarding one.
But his individual performances are revealing.
His best came against Trinidad and Tobago's Joshua Balfour, one of the strongest players on the CDLC circuit.
Soto beat Balfour 6–3 in a quarter-final while averaging 76.09. He also produced 72.14 in a 6–0 victory over Mauricio Carcamo and 70.47 while beating Claudio Domingues 6–1.
Even his defeats demonstrate the level of opposition he is now encountering.
His three losses in that sample came against Jesús Salate, Norman Madhoo and Víctor Guillín.
That's about as tough a trio as the CDLC can provide.
Alex Gutierrez – Nearly Winning On Home Soil
Soto isn't Costa Rica's only player with a significant CDLC history.
Alex Gutierrez came remarkably close to winning one of the very first tournaments.
At the inaugural San José weekend in 2023, Gutierrez reached the final of Event Two before losing 6–2 to Sudesh Fitzgerald.
That result helped Gutierrez finish fourth on the 2023 CDLC Order of Merit, immediately behind Soto.
His current Q4QS sample is much smaller.
We have four 2026 matches across two events, with two victories and two defeats.
But one performance jumps off the page.
Gutierrez averaged 65.78 against Jesús Salate and pushed the dominant Argentine all the way before losing 6–5.
Again, there isn't enough data to award Gutierrez a Q4QS Average.
But taking Salate to a deciding leg is another reminder that Costa Rica possesses players capable of making life difficult for the region's best.
Jafet Vanegas – Another Name In The Mix
Then there is Jafet Vanegas.
Vanegas sits 14th on the published two-year CDLC Order of Merit after the opening three events of 2026, giving Costa Rica two players inside the top 14 alongside Soto.
His Q4QS sample contains only five matches, but his overall match average of 60.81 is encouraging.
More interestingly, three of his defeats came with averages above 62.
He averaged 63.92 against Norman Madhoo, 62.38 against Dean Persad and produced his current best of 65.33 in a 6–4 defeat against Kenny De Souza Heindel.
Vanegas also has some history on the circuit.
At the final 2023 event in Santiago he averaged 75.78 in one victory and later 73.81 in a 6–2 win over Brazil's Roberto Wentz before Soto stopped him in the quarter-finals.
That's another useful indication that his small 2026 sample doesn't tell the whole story.
More Depth Behind Them
This is where Costa Rica begins to separate itself from some of the developing nations I've looked at.
There are more names.
Norwing Jimenez has six matches recorded by Q4QS in 2026 and has split them evenly — three wins and three defeats.
His overall average is 54.81, with a best of 62.19 against James Walklin. He has also recorded victories over Michael Moss, Chris Torrie and Gustavo Quiros.
And Jenny Mora has also competed on the CDLC circuit.
My current database contains only two of Mora's matches, so there is nowhere near enough evidence to make any meaningful assessment of her playing level.
But her presence is worth mentioning for another reason.
The first CDLC weekend in San José featured a sizeable Costa Rican contingent, and the wider entrant lists demonstrate that the country has considerably more participation than just Soto and Gutierrez.
That depth matters.
Costa Rica's Missing Breakthrough
There is, however, a strange contrast.
Costa Rica helped launch the CDLC.
It has produced tournament finalists.
It has produced a CDLC tournament winner.
It currently has one of the highest-ranked players on the regional circuit.
And it has a broader group of players behind him.
Yet the really big breakthrough remains missing.
No Costa Rican has yet followed the likes of Norman Madhoo, Jesús Salate or Diogo Portela onto the PDC World Championship stage.
And Costa Rica has yet to make its debut at the PDC World Cup.
That makes it feel less like a country trying to discover darts and more like a country waiting for the final piece to fall into place.
A World Cup Opportunity Slips Away
The 2026 regional World Cup qualifier showed just how difficult that final step can be.
Costa Rica had several possible combinations in the competition.
One pairing of Guillermo Soto and Jafet Vanegas pushed Jamaica all the way before losing 5–4.
Another Costa Rican pairing, Alex Gutierrez and Nelson Hernandez, was beaten 5–1 by the Bahamas combination of Rashad Sweeting and Lorenzo Deveaux.
Trinidad and Tobago eventually claimed the single World Cup ticket.
For Costa Rica, the wait continued.
But the fact it can field several credible combinations is itself evidence of something important.
This isn't a one-player darts country.
Why Costa Rica Matters
Costa Rica's importance to this series goes beyond its results.
When the modern PDC pathway into Latin America and the Caribbean began, San José was its starting point.
Players travelled there from across the region in 2023 to compete for the opportunity that would eventually take Norman Madhoo back to Alexandra Palace.
Costa Rican players were immediately competitive.
Soto finished third on the Tour.
Gutierrez finished fourth.
And that strength hasn't simply disappeared three years later.
Soto remains one of the leading players on the CDLC.
Vanegas remains firmly involved.
Gutierrez can still threaten elite regional opposition.
Others continue to compete behind them.
Costa Rica therefore has something several emerging darts nations don't yet possess.
Depth.
Looking Ahead
The next target couldn't be clearer.
Costa Rica needs to turn regional competitiveness into an international breakthrough.
And Guillermo Soto looks the most likely player to deliver it.
His 2026 record in my database is excellent: 11 wins from 14 matches, two semi-finals, a quarter-final and a victory over Joshua Balfour.
But Soto isn't carrying the country alone.
Gutierrez has already reached a CDLC final.
Vanegas is inside the upper reaches of the regional rankings.
Jimenez is winning matches.
And the country's broader participation gives it a foundation from which another player could emerge.
Costa Rica was there at the beginning of the CDLC revolution.
Now it needs to take the next step.
From helping create the pathway to finally walking all the way down it.
Q4QS Darts Nation Rating
Current Strength: 7/10
Participation & Depth: 7.5/10
International Achievement: 6/10
Future Potential: 8/10
Overall Q4QS Nation Rating: 7/10
I think 7/10 feels right.
Costa Rica doesn't yet have the international achievements to match Guyana or the recent momentum of Argentina. But I'd put its depth ahead of Chile, and Soto is clearly one of the better players we've encountered during this part of the series.
The missing ingredient is the breakthrough.
A Costa Rican at Alexandra Palace or a Costa Rican team walking onto the World Cup stage would completely change the country's story.
And increasingly, it feels like a question of when rather than whether.
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