Jewison Francisco Bennette Villegas (born 15 June 2004) is a Costa Rican 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 ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Sunderland and the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in Heredia, Bennette started his career at

Herediano Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...

. He made his senior debut on 1 August 2021 in a 3–2 defeat to Jicaral, and scored the first goal of the match after four minutes.

Sunderland

In August 2022, EFL Championship side Sunderland announced they had signed Bennette to a four-year deal. He made his debut for his new club on 14 September, replacing Corry Evans as a substitute against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. In his second match for Sunderland against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, he scored his first goal.

International career

Bennette played for the Costa Rica under-15 team in 2019. He trained with the Costa Rica national team in summer 2021 ahead of the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

, and made his senior international debut for Costa Rica in a 0–0 draw against El Salvador on 21 August 2021, becoming the youngest player to represent Costa Rica internationally, at 17 years and 2 months. He played in Costa Rica's 2022 World Cup qualification fixtures against

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and Honduras in November 2021, becoming Costa Rica's youngest player to feature in World Cup qualifying. Bennette became crucial for the team, as he assisted Joel Campbell to score the lone goal at the

play-off match The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

against

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to seal Costa Rica's spot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 23 September he scored his first two international goals in a friendly against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. In November 2022 Bennette was named to the 2022 FIFA World Cup squad for Costa Rica.

Personal life

His father, Jewisson Bennette, also played as a footballer for

and the Costa Rica national team, as did his uncle

Try Bennett Try Anthony Bennett Grant (born 5 August 1975) is a Costa Rican former footballer. Club career Bennett made his professional debut for Saprissa on 3 October 1993 against Puntarenas and played the majority of his career for Saprissa. He had br ...

. He is the older brother of twins Nick and Mike.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Herediano *

Liga FPD 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 ...

: 2021–22 *

Supercopa de Costa Rica The Supercopa de Costa Rica ( en, Costa Rican Supercup) is an association football competition held for club football teams in Costa Rica. The Supercopa de Costa Rica is a renewed Champion of Champions tournament A tournament is a competitio ...

: 2022

References

2004 births Living people Costa Rican footballers People from Heredia (canton) Association football wingers C.S. Herediano footballers Liga FPD players Sunderland A.F.C. players Costa Rica international footballers Costa Rican expatriate footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England 2022 FIFA World Cup players {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub