Richard Costa (born 5 January 1992) is an Indian

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

midfielder 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

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

in the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

. He is currently the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the team.

Early life

Costa was born in

Navelim Navelim is a census town and fast growing suburb of the city of Margao located in the Salcete sub-district of South Goa district, Goa, India. It has a large parish and has played a crucial rule in South Goa politics at some stage. The region ...

, a town in the Indian State of

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. He began playing football at an early age and played for a local club, Juniors Salunkas, as a child. He idolized Goan footballer and midfielder

Climax Lawrence Climax Lourenco Lawrence (born 16 January 1979) is a retired Indian professional football midfielder. He last played for FC Bardez in the Goa Professional League in 2017. National team In 2002, he was called to the India national football team ...

, and began playing in that position. Costa was included in the under-20 side of

after he impressed the owners of the team who saw him play at a local match.

Career

Churchill Brothers

Costa, after going through his youth career at Churchill Brothers, made his debut for the senior squad in the

on 11 October 2012 against

ONGC The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the ...

at the

Fatorda Stadium Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, locally known as Fatorda Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium situated in Margao, Goa, India. The venue has been used to host both international football as well as International cricket matches.However after th ...

, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute for Bikramjit Singh in a match that his team won 5–0.

East Bengal

In May 2017,

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

announced the signing of Richard Costa and Surabuddin Mullick from Churchill Brothers. On 12 January 2018, East Bengal released Gabriel Fernandes and Richard Costa from their squad.

Churchill Brothers

Costa returned to his previous club Churchill Brothers after he got released from East Bengal. He scored his first goal in the 2023–24 season, on 22 November 2023, a headed goal in the 4–0 against

TRAU FC Tiddim Road Athletic Union Football Club, or simply TRAU FC, is an Indian professional football club based in Imphal, Manipur, that competes in the I-League. The club made its I-League 2nd Division debut in the 2017–18 season. They promoted ...

. He also had one assist in the game. He scored again four days later, against Gokulam Kerala, that ended in a 1–1 draw.

Career statistics

Club

Honour

Goa lusophony *

2014 Lusophony Games The 2014 Lusophone Games was the 3rd edition of the Lusophone Games, a multi-sport event that represent athletes from Portuguese-speaking countries and territories. It was held from 18 to 29 January 2014 in the Indian state of Goa. Brazil and Sri ...

: Gold MedalGoa-India win the Lusofonia Games football tournament
''blog.cpdfootball.de''. Retrieved 7 September 2021

References

Indian men's footballers 1992 births Living people I-League players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Goa East Bengal Club players {{India-footy-bio-stub