Nicolás Ignacio Castillo Mora (born 14 February 1993) is a Chilean professional footballer.

Club career

Universidad Católica

Castillo was born and raised in Renca, suburb of the capital Santiago. During his childhood, he was part of Universidad Católica's supporter groups and later joined the club's youth ranks when he was 12. In 2010, Castillo made a goalscorer debut against San Pedro de Atacama football team for a cup game, sealing a 10–0 thrash of Católica after scoring the tenth and last goal of it. In 2011, Castillo debuted professionally in a league match against Cobreloa, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute during a 2–0 win. On 2 March 2012, he scored his first competitive goal in a 2–0 win over

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, again for a league match. As a result of his performance in the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

, Castillo was linked with Premier League side

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, where his compatriot

Ángelo Henríquez Ángelo José Henríquez Iturra (; born 13 April 1994) is a Chilean professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Polish Ekstraklasa club Miedź Legnica and the Chile national f ...

was playing at the time. Despite the rumours surrounding his move, the transfer never materialised.

Club Brugge

In January 2014, Universidad Católica reached an agreement to sell Castillo to Belgian Pro League side

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.

. The move became official as Castillo signed for a fee of €3 million on a deal until 2018. He scored in his debut for Club Brugge in a 3–1 win over Genk on 9 February 2014. He struggled to score again but did so during the play-offs in the last game of the season against

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

, with Brugge winning 2–0. On 9 November 2014, Castillo netted a hat-trick in Brugge's 5–0 home win over Westerlo. On 28 January 2015, he was loaned to

1. FSV 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 ...

until the end of the season, with an option to buy. On 7 April, having only made one substitute appearance for the Bundesliga club, he was ruled out for the remainder of the season with damage to his right knee ligaments. Later, on 28 August 2015, Castillo joined Italian side Frosinone on loan from Club Brugge until the end of the season.

Pumas

In 2017, Castillo joined Mexican club

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Foun ...

, where he played for a year.

Benfica

On 4 June 2018, he was sold to Portuguese side Benfica, signing a five-year contract.

América

On 1 February 2019, Castillo returned to Mexico, joining

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

on a €7 million transfer fee, potentially rising to €9 million. Nine days later, he made his league debut as a second-half substitute in América's 3–0 loss to León at the Estadio Azteca.

Esporte Clube Juventude

On 26 August 2021, Castillo joined Brazilian side

Esporte Clube Juventude Esporte Clube Juventude, also known as Juventude, is a Brazilian football team in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul. The club currently competes in the top tier of Brazilian football, the Série A, as well as in Campeonato Gaúcho Série ...

on loan from América until the end of the season.

International career

Castillo was listed in the 21-man squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In the tournament, he scored four goals, including an opener against Egypt, and was the top-scorer for Chile. Castillo made his debut for the Chile senior team on 23 March 2013 in a 1–0

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) The South American Zone of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification saw nine teams competing for 4 or 5 berths in the finals. Brazil automatically qualified for the World Cup as the host nation so were not involved in CONMEBOL qualifying. Argentina, C ...

away loss to Peru, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for

Jean Beausejour Jean André Emanuel Beausejour Coliqueo (; born 1 June 1984) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a left-sided wing-back. He played in Chile, Switzerland, Brazil, Belgium, Mexico and England, where he won the League Cup wi ...

. In 2016, Castillo was nominated for the

2016 Copa América Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...

squad and was part of the Chilean victory in the tournament. He was subbed in the 104th minute of the final against Argentina, which Chile won 4–2 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

, where he converted the 2nd spot kick.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.''

Honours

Universidad Católica * Primera División de Chile: Torneo Clausura 2015–16, Torneo Apertura 2016–17 * Copa Chile:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Supercopa de Chile The Supercopa de Chile (''Supercup of Chile'') is an annual one-match football (soccer), football official competition in Chile organised by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). This competition serves as the season opener and ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Club Brugge * Belgian Cup: 2014–15 Benfica *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

: 2018–19 América * Copa MX: Clausura 2019 * Campeón de Campeones:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Chile *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Nicolas 1993 births Living people Footballers from Santiago Association football forwards Chilean footballers Chile under-20 international footballers Chile international footballers Chilean Primera División players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players Serie A players Liga MX players Primeira Liga players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Club Brugge KV players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Frosinone Calcio players Club Universidad Nacional footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Club América footballers Esporte Clube Juventude players Club Necaxa footballers Chilean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Brazil Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players Copa América-winning players