Costa Rica's state mail company will issue 54,000 stamps commemorating the national soccer team's Germany 2006 World Cup participation on Monday, the company told Sunday's La Nacion newspaper.

"Its one way we can pay tribute to our boys," general manager Alvaro Coghi Gomez said in an interview, saying that if the 54,000 stamps run out, there will be a reprint. A similar commemorative edition of a million stamps in 2002 ran out.

The 120 colons (24 U.S. cents) stamp will have two drawing of anonymous Costa Rican soccer players and the official Costa Rica logo.

Coghi said the post office would also produce envelopes with the same illustration, on 105 gram art paper, and a packet which includes the stamp, the enevelop and a photo of the Costa Rica socce team in a folder.

The post office will also speed messages of encouragement sent to the team on postcards or via telegram, Coghi said.

The Costa Rica team will play the World Cup's first game, on June 9, in Munich against hosts Germany. It also faces Ecuador and Poland in Group A of the Cup.

Costa Rica also took part in Italy's 1990 World Cup and the 2002 Cup held jointly by Japan and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua