Fonseca has also been a fixture on the
Costa Rica national team since 1992. He played in more than 100 internationals, and is currently the nation's all-time scorer, with 47 goals. Fonseca earned his first cap at the age of 17 on 27 May 1992, in a friendly match against
Ecuador. the first of his five World Cup qualifying campaigns for Costa Rica. The following year saw Fonseca's first international goal, which came on 9 March in an UNCAF Nations Cup match against
Panama. By late 1996, Fonseca had become a regular in the national team, playing four
World Cup qualifiers in the fall. the first of three in his international career. At the turn of the millennium, Fonseca was entering the highest-scoring stretch of his international career; he scored eight times for Costa Rica in 1999, six times in 2000, and twelve times in 2001. At the
2001 Copa América, Fonseca appeared in all four matches and scored against
Bolivia, as the Costa Ricans won their first-round group with a team that also included
Paulo César Wanchope,
Walter Centeno, and
Hernán Medford. Fonseca played in two games for the team at the
2002 World Cup, appearing in the first-round matches against China and
Brazil. Fonseca remained in the national team after the World Cup, playing in the
2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup and scoring twice against the
United States, but he was limited to only one cap in 2004 and two in 2005. Upon the appointment of former teammate Medford as national coach, however, Fonseca returned to the national team in early 2007. He appeared only once for Costa Rica during the two-year span after the
2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but he was recalled late in 2009 for the last stages of
World Cup qualifying by coach
René Simões. Fonseca played his final competitive international match in the intercontinental playoff match against
Uruguay on 18 November 2009, coming off the bench for the last 26 minutes. His 47th and last international goal came against
Chile, in a spectacular strike with his back to the goal, which also meant the number 1000 for Costa Rica in international matches. The all-time top scorer in the
UNCAF Nations Cup with 19 goals, Fonseca was voted the tournament's best player in 1999, adding five goals. On 26 March 2011, Rolando Fonseca played in the first game of the new Costa Rican
Estadio Nacional against
China. This was his last game with the Costa Rica national football team, as he retired from international play as Costa Rica's all-time leading scorer. ==Career statistics==