Hélder Wander Sousa de Azevedo e Costa (born 12 January 1994) is an Angolan 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 winger for club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. Initially representing Portugal at youth and senior level, in 2021 he opted to represent the Angola national team. Formed at Benfica, with which he made a single

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

appearance, Costa spent most of his career abroad, including at

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. He also spent several years in England with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and Leeds United, winning the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

with both. Costa represented Portugal from under-16 all the way through to the senior side, for whom he scored on his only appearance in 2018. In 2021, he scored on his debut for

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

Club career

Benfica

On 11 August 2012, Costa made his professional debut with Benfica B in a

2012–13 Segunda Liga The 2012–13 Segunda Liga was the 23rd season of the second-tier of football in Portugal. This season marked a series of changes in the league overall. The league's name was changed back to Segunda Liga from the previous Liga de Honra. A total o ...

match against Braga B where he played 72 minutes as a winger. His first professional goal came on 23 August 2013, in a 3–0 home win over

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

, one of eight that season including on 23 November in a 4–3 triumph against Oliveirense in which he was also sent off. On 25 January 2014, Costa debuted with Benfica in a

2013–14 Taça da Liga The 2013–14 Taça da Liga was the seventh edition of the Taça da Liga, a Portuguese football knockout competition organized by the Portuguese League for Professional Football (LPFP). It was contested by the 33 clubs competing in the 2013–14 Pr ...

third round match against

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

, playing the final 13 minutes of the 1–0 win at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, its ...

as a substitute for

Miralem Sulejmani Miralem Sulejmani ( sr-Cyrl, Миралем Сулејмани, ; born 5 December 1988) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a winger. When he signed for Ajax in 2008, he became the most expensive football player to have ever been ...

. He played no further part in the tournament, which Benfica went on to win. On 5 November 2014, he scored a hat-trick in the Segunda Liga with Benfica B against

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

in a 5–1 home win. Costa came through the Benfica academy in the same age group as fellow future Portugal internationals Ivan Cavaleiro and

Bernardo Silva Bernardo Mota Veiga de Carvalho e Silva (; born 10 August 1994), known as Bernardo Silva or simply Bernardo, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, forward or a winger for club Manchester City and the P ...

Deportivo (loan)

On 19 January 2015, Costa was loaned to

until the end of the season. He made six appearances for the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance l ...

, all from the substitutes' bench.

Monaco (loan)

On 10 July 2015, Costa joined

club

on a one-year loan. He was signed alongside Benfica teammates Cavaleiro and Silva. He scored his first goal in a Ligue 1 match on 8 November, opening a 3–1 loss away to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He also provided the assist for

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is renowned for his dribb ...

's first-ever league goal for Monaco in a 3–1 victory against

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

on 26 February 2016. Costa played 28 times and scored 5 goals in all competitions for Monaco during the 2015–16 season, facing competition out wide from the likes of Silva,

Thomas Lemar Thomas Benoît Lemar (born 12 November 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. He is known for his versatility, being able to play on both wings and thr ...

and Mbappé.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 29 July 2016, Costa moved on a season-long loan to

club

, for whom he made his debut on 6 August as a substitute in a 2–2 draw at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

win against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

on 23 August, and his first league goal on 17 September in a 2–0 win against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

. Costa was also praised for his performance against

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, with Wolves causing a shock 2–1 win at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

; Costa assisted on both Wolves goals. On 30 January 2017, Wolves purchased Costa outright for a £13 million transfer fee, at the time the highest-ever transfer fee paid by the club. Following payment, he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the club. After scoring 12 goals and eight assists in all competitions in his first season, at the annual end of season awards, he won the 2016–17 Wolves Player of the Season Award, also receiving the Players' Player of the Year Award and winning Goal of the Season for a goal he scored against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. On 22 November 2017, Costa scored his first goal of the 2017–18 season in a 4–1 win against

. He received a winner's medal during the

2017–18 EFL Championship The 2017–18 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-sixth season under its current league structure. Team changes The ...

, contributing five goals and six assists in the league over the course of the season. Costa made his first Premier League appearance on 11 August 2018 in Wolves' opening match of the league season in a 2–2 draw against Everton. On 29 December, in a 3–1 win against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, he scored his first Premier League goal. In total during the 2018–19 season, Costa made 30 appearances for Wolves in all competitions as he helped the side to a seventh-place finish, sufficient for qualification to the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

Leeds United

On 3 July 2019, Costa joined Championship club Leeds United on loan for the 2019–20 season. As part of the deal, Costa was to join Leeds outright in July 2020 on a four-year contract for an approximate £15 million transfer fee. He was given the number 17 shirt, making him the first player since 2014 to wear it, after the shirt was brought out of retirement. He made his debut on 4 August in Leeds'

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

opening day 3–1 victory against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and his first start nine days later in the

against Salford City, contributing two assists. Costa scored his first goal for the club on 27 August in an EFL Cup match against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, the equaliser that sent the tie to a penalty shootout after a 2–2 draw in normal time, with him also scoring his penalty in the 4–5 defeat. On 30 November, in a 4–0 victory against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, he scored his first league goal. On 7 July 2020, Costa joined Leeds outright on a four-year contract. Days later, Leeds earned promotion to the Premier League as EFL champions. Costa made his

debut for Leeds in the first match of the season against reigning champions

on 12 September 2020, assisting

Mateusz Klich Mateusz Andrzej Klich (; born 13 June 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Poland national team. He is currently a free agent. Club career Cracovia Born in Tarnów, Klich debuted in the Ekstraklasa in Nove ...

's goal in a 4–3 defeat away from home and scored a brace a week later in Leeds's first home league win of the season, a 4–3 victory over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. On 31 August 2021, Costa joined La Liga side

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

on loan for the 2021–22 season. In August 2022, Costa joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad on loan for the duration of the 2022-23 season.

Al-Ittihad

In August 2022, Costa signed a loan deal with

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

for the duration of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. Costa reunited with former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo. Costa scored his first goal for Al-Ittihad against Al Taawoun on 26 December 2022.

International career

Portugal

Born in Angola, Costa started his international career in representing Portugal. He played for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at the

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, since its reclassification from an under-18 tournament in 2002, and the 62nd since the tournament was created in 1948. It was hosted in L ...

, and although he did not score in the team's run to the semi-finals, he was named in the Team of the Tournament. Costa also represented Portugal at the

2014 Toulon Tournament The 2014 Toulon Tournament was the 42nd edition of the Toulon Tournament. The competition took place between 21 May and 1 June 2014 mostly in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of South Eastern France. Brazil successfully defended their title, ...

. Costa received his first call-up to the senior Portugal squad ahead of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

fixtures in October 2018. He made his senior international debut in a friendly against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

on 14 October, in a 3–1 win in which he scored the opening goal. Portugal won the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

, but Costa was not called up for the final four tournament.

Angola

On 16 March 2021, Costa was called up to the

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

squad for matches in

2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football champions ...

against the

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

and

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

. He was eligible as he had only played a friendly for Portugal. He made his debut in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier at home to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

on 12 November that year, scoring the opening goal of a 2–2 home draw. By doing so, he became the third footballer in history (behind

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

and

José Altafini José João Altafini (; born 24 July 1938), also known as "Mazzola" in Brazil (as when he started to play it was noted that he resembled the Italian legend Valentino Mazzola), is an Italian-Brazilian former footballer, who played as a forward. ...

) to score a goal on his debut for two different nations.

Style of play

Costa can play as a winger on either side of the pitch. He can also play as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is known for his skill, pace, trickery and creativity.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Portugal or Angola's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Costa goal.''

Honours

Benfica *

: 2013–14 Wolverhampton Wanderers *

: 2017–18 Leeds United *EFL Championship: 2019–20 Al-Ittihad *

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 ...

Individual *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

Team of the Tournament:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Player of the Year: 2016–17 *Wolverhampton Wanderers Players Player of the Year Award: 2016–17 *Wolverhampton Wanderers Goal of the Season: 2016–17

References

External links