Óscar Esaú Duarte Gaitán (born 3 June 1989) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club Al-Wehda. Born in Nicaragua, he represents the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

Duarte was born in

Catarina, Masaya Catarina is a municipality in the Masaya department of Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

.Nica Oscar Duarte debuta en el Mundial con la Selección de Costa Rica
– El Nuevo Diario After making 52 appearances in five years at Costa Rican club

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

, Duarte joined

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

in 2013. On 24 June 2022, Duarte joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Wehda.

International career

Duarte made his debut for the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body fo ...

against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

on 17 November 2010 and played for the team at the 2011 Copa Centroamericana, where they lost to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in the final. In June 2014, Duarte was named in Costa Rica's squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, becoming the first Nicaragua-born player at a World Cup finals. In the team's opening match, he scored his first goal for ''Los Ticos'' in a 3–1 defeat of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. In their second match, the team beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, a 1–0 win that qualified Costa Rica for the

knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Costa Rica completed the group stage unbeaten, recording a second consecutive clean sheet in a 0–0 draw with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

. On 29 June, Duarte was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for receiving two

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

s in Costa Rica's

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

match against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The team advanced via a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history, where they lost on penalties to the Netherlands. In May 2018 he was named in Costa Rica’s 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Duarte goal''.

Honours

Saprissa *

Costa Rican Primera División The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

: Clausura 2008, Apertura 2008 Brugge *

: 2015–16 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2014–15 Belgian Cup, 2015

Notes

References

External links

* * * Living people 1989 births Nicaraguan emigrants to Costa Rica Naturalized citizens of Costa Rica Costa Rican people of Nicaraguan descent Costa Rican footballers People from Masaya Department Association football defenders Deportivo Saprissa players Puntarenas F.C. players Club Brugge KV players RCD Espanyol footballers Levante UD footballers Al-Wehda Club (Mecca) players Liga FPD players Belgian Pro League players La Liga players Saudi Professional League players Costa Rica international footballers Costa Rican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Spain Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Copa Centroamericana-winning players 2011 Copa Centroamericana players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 Copa América players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2014 Copa Centroamericana players Copa América Centenario players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub