Rónald Alberto Matarrita Ulate (born 9 July 1994) 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 le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and winger for the Ukrainian club

Dnipro-1 The "Dnipro-1" Regiment ( uk, Полк «Дніпро-1») is a Special Tasks Patrol Police regiment subordinated to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The regiment is based in Dnipro. History The unit was first established as "Dnipro-1 ...

and the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

New York City FC

Matarrita was signed to

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

from

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Al ...

on 20 January 2016 for an undisclosed fee. Matarrita made his MLS debut against the Chicago Fire on 6 March 2016. He scored his first goal for New York City during a 2–0 victory over the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...

on 25 June 2016. After a strong first season, he was named New York City's Defensive Player of the Year for 2016.

FC Cincinnati

On 29 December 2020, Matarrita was traded to

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

in exchange for $500,000 of General Allocation Money. Matarrita was released by Cincinnati following their 2022 season.

International career

Matarrita has represented

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 ...

at under-17, under-20, under-22, and senior levels. He made his senior debut on 5 September 2015 in a friendly against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He scored his first goal for Costa Rica 6 September 2016, in a 3–1 win over

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, in a

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match. Matarrita was called up for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, but was ruled out of the tournament three days before Costa Rica's debut due to a harmstring injury.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Costa Rica score listed first, score column indicates score after each Matarrita goal.''

Personal

Matarrita earned his U.S. green card in March 2017. This status also qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

Alajuelense *

Costa Rican Primera División 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 ...

: 2013–14 Invierno Individual * CONCACAF Best XI:

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 ...

MLS 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 ...

Team of the Week 2016: Week 6, Week 10, Week 16,

References

External links

Profile
at

1994 births Living people Association football wingers Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers New York City FC players FC Cincinnati players SC Dnipro-1 players Liga FPD players Major League Soccer players Costa Rican expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Copa América Centenario players People from Alajuela Association football fullbacks 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub