Douglas Esteban Sequeira Solano (Also known as ''El Esqueleto Sequeira'') (born 23 August 1977 in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José Canton. San ...

) is a Costa Rican former 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 played as a defender.

Club career

Early career

Sequeira started his career in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

by playing for Saprissa in 1995. He moved abroad after the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

to spend time in Europe with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

, who loaned him to then feeder club

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

for whom he made his debut in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

against Emmen on 18 October 1997. In 1999, he signed for two years for German second division side

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

alongside compatriot Mínor Díaz, playing 24 matches, before returning to Costa Rica and

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 ...

Major League Soccer

He was originally acquired by

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

and

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

from Saprissa in exchange for

Pablo Brenes Pablo Andrés Brenes Quesada (born 4 August 1982) is a Costa Rican soccer player. Club career Brenes' first team in MLS was the MetroStars, whom he joined from Municipal Pérez Zeledón, Pérez Zeledón in Costa Rica, signing with the team on J ...

, and was immediately sent to

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

for a draft pick, and spent a year with the team. Subsequently, Sequeira ended up at Real Salt Lake but was waived following the 2006 season.

Tromsø

In December 2006, he signed a three-year contract with Norwegian club

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

. Sequeira got a good start to his career at Tromsø, scoring the 1–0 winning goal in the 8th minute of his first official match for the club, against

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

on 9 April 2007. On 30 July 2009, Sequeira played his last match for Tromsø at

Alfheim Stadion Alfheim Stadion is football stadium located in Tromsø, Norway and home of Eliteserien side Tromsø IL. Alfheim has a seating capacity of 6,801 and artificial turf. It is the second northernmost stadium to have been used in European football, aft ...

. He will return to Costa Rica and Saprissa, after playing against Vålerenga on 9 August 2009. After playing a few more seasons for Saprissa, Sequeira retired in November 2013 and became manager of Saprissa's youth team.

International career

Sequeira has played 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 ...

on various youth levels, and received his first senior cap in a February 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

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 ...

. Since then he has represented the national team 42 times scoring twice. He played in the

, held in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. FIFA suspended Sequeira for three matches following an incident where he kneed an opponent in the stomach during a 3–0 loss to the United States during qualifying for the

. His final international was an August 2010

against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Sequeira is married to Andrea Borbón and they have a son,

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

, and a daughter, Brianna.Douglas Sequeira sueña con entrenar niños tras su retiro
- Al Día His older brother, Alejandro Sequeira played as forward.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sequeira, Douglas 1977 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Association football defenders Association football utility players Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers 2004 Copa América players 2005 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Copa Centroamericana-winning players Deportivo Saprissa players Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam players Karlsruher SC players Chivas USA players Real Salt Lake players Tromsø IL players Costa Rican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Norway Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Germany Liga FPD players Eerste Divisie players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Eliteserien players Central American Games gold medalists for Costa Rica Central American Games medalists in football