Danny Vieira da Costa (born 13 July 1993) is a German 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

right 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

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

Club career

Early career

With his club having already advanced to 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 ...

of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, the 17-year-old da Costa made his

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...

debut as a second-half substitute against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, coming on for

Gonzalo Castro Gonzalo Castro Randón (born 11 June 1987) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a former Germany international. Club career Bayer Leverkusen Born in Wuppertal to Spanish parents, he began his ca ...

. da Costa made his

debut on 24 September 2011, facing off against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and the manager who gave him his debut,

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. The majority of his player career was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won many nati ...

. da Costa would go on to make 6 appearances in the Bundesliga, as well as one in the Champions League, coming against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the first round of the knockout stage..

FC Ingolstadt

In the offseason, da Costa secured a move to

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

FC Ingolstadt Fußball-Club Ingolstadt 2004 e.V., commonly known as FC Ingolstadt 04 or FC Ingolstadt, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingols ...

, initially on a two-year loan. da Costa made his club debut on 3 August 2012 against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

, and started the first two games of the season at right-back before being supplanted by

Andreas Görlitz Andreas Görlitz (born 31 January 1982) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Born in Weilheim in Oberbayern, Bavaria, West Germany, Görlitz began his professional career as a midfielder with TSV 18 ...

. da Costa made his return on match day 7, coming on as a substitute against

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

. This led to a run of 13 consecutive starts for Ingolstadt, and da Costa finished the season having started 26 of their 34 games with his club finishing in the middle of the table. da Costa also made 26 starts in the 2013–14 season. On 31 October 2014, in a match between the table leaders at the time, Ingolstadt and

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

, da Costa suffered a leg injury in a collision with

Lukas Schmitz Lukas Schmitz (born 13 October 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays as a left back. Career Schmitz began his career with TSG Sprockhövel. Here he scored 11 goals in 23 games during the 2006–07 season of the Verbandsliga Westfa ...

, and had to be stretchered off. The injury was severe − a fractured

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

− and put his career in jeopardy. da Costa made his competitive return in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

against

Unterhaching Unterhaching (; Central Bavarian: ''Haching'') is the second largest municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany, located to the south of Munich city centre and easily accessible via two federal motorways, Bundesautobahn 8 and Bunde ...

on 9 August 2015 in advance of Ingolstadt's first ever season in the

. da Costa appeared in the Bundesliga for the first time with Ingolstadt on 25 September, coming on as a late substitute in the 1–1 draw. He would make two more substitute appearances before earning his first start in the final match of the ''Hinrunde'', a 1–0 loss to former club Bayer Leverkusen. da Costa started all but one match in the second half, as Ingolstadt survived their first season in 10th position. With three matches left in the season, football magazine

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

reported that Leverkusen would be exercising a buy back option on da Costa. The news came days after the club announced that manager

Ralph Hasenhüttl Ralph Hasenhüttl (; born 9 August 1967) is an Austrian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Premier League club Southampton. During his playing career, he played as a centre forward. Playing care ...

would not be returning, with Hasenhüttl eventually moving on to newly promoted side

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

Return to Leverkusen

On 2 May 2016, da Costa officially returned to former club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

, with the move becoming effective 1 July. da Costa was in and out of the squad during his lone season back with Leverkusen, making just three appearances in the Bundesliga. His lone start came against former club Ingolstadt, but he was substituted off at the half in favor of Wendell. da Costa also made one appearance in Leverkusen's Champions League campaign, coming in the final day of the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

against

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

. He was one of seven changes from Leverkusen's previous Champions League tie, as they had already advanced to the knockout stage.

Eintracht Frankfurt

At the end of the 2016-17 season, da Costa signed for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. da Costa sustained an injury in training prior to the fourth match day, a partial tendon tear which caused him to miss around three months of the season. He made his return in their 2–1 cup victory over Heidenheim, coming on in extra time to provide the assist on

Sébastien Haller Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller (born 22 June 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Ivory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France with Auxerre, and moved on loan to ...

's winner. Initially behind

Timothy Chandler Timothy Chandler (born March 29, 1990) is a professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a right-back for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt. Born in Germany, he represented the United States men's national soccer team, United ...

on the depth chart at right back, da Costa played his way into manager

Niko Kovač Niko Kovač (; born 15 October 1971) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Bundesliga club VFL Wolfsburg. Kovač was the long-standing captain of the Croatia national team until his retirem ...

's plans as he started the final 13 games of the season. Kovač lined da Costa up on the right and Chandler on the left, with fellow right-back contender

Marius Wolf Marius Wolf (born 27 May 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a wing-back or right-back for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national team. Club career Wolf is a youth exponent from 1860 Munich. He made his ...

in the midfield. On 3 March, da Costa scored his first senior goal, the only goal in a victory over

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

. da Costa featured in Eintracht's team that won the

2017–18 DFB-Pokal The 2017–18 DFB-Pokal was the 75th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 1 ...

against

, playing the forward ball that found

Ante Rebić Ante Rebić (; born 21 September 1993) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a winger for club AC Milan and the Croatia national team. He can play on both wings, as well as a second striker. He began his senior career at RNK Spli ...

for the winner. The trophy was the club's first since 1988. da Costa began the 2018–19 season in good form, starting every match of the season at right-back under new manager

Adi Hütter Adolf Hütter (; born 11 February 1970) is an Austrian professional football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach. As a player, Hütter reached the 1993–94 UEFA Cup final, won the Austrian ch ...

. Hütter sought to implement a pressing style, one da Costa was familiar with from his time at Leverkusen under Roger Schmidt. On 4 October, da Costa scored the first and final goals in Eintracht's 4–1 win over Italian side

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

in the

Loan to Mainz 05

On 22 January 2021, da Costa moved to

, on a loan until the end of the season.

Return to Mainz

On 29 April 2022,

announced the return of da Costa on a three-year contract, beginning on 1 July 2022.

International career

Da Costa has represented Germany at U17 making 11 appearances, U18 making six appearances and currently six appearances at U19 level. In July 2014 he was asked to switch his international allegiance to

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. After missing the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

due to injury, da Costa was included in the provisional squad for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. However, da Costa did not make the final squad as Germany finished runners-up in the competition.

Career statistics

Personal life

Da Costa is the son of an Angolan father and a Congolese mother, he lives with his family in Leverkusen district Opladen.

Honours

Club

Eintracht Frankfurt *

: 2017–18 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

: 2021–22

Individual

Squad of the Season: 2018–19 *

Team of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Danny da 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Neuss German footballers Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Association football fullbacks Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players FC Ingolstadt 04 players FC Ingolstadt 04 II players Eintracht Frankfurt players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players UEFA Europa League winning players German sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent German people of Angolan descent German sportspeople of African descent European sportspeople of Angolan descent Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia