Carlo Yaír Costly Molina (; born 18 July 1982) is a Honduran 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, rugb ...

who plays as a striker for

Liga de Ascenso Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

club Lone FC. Prior to moving to Europe, he played with Platense, where he was the top scorer of the Honduras Apertura in 2006–07.

Club career

Carlo Costly is the son of

Anthony Costly Allan Anthony Costly Blyden (born 13 December 1954) is a Honduran former footballer who played at both professional and international levels, as a defender. Career Born in Tela, Costly played club football in Honduras Tela Timsa, Real España a ...

. Despite being Honduran, he has close links to Mexico. His parents separated and his mother, soon after, married a Mexican. Costly moved to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

when he was 14 years old and lived there for the following 11 years where he kicked off his football career. He had spells in the

Mexican league The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

with the reserve teams of

Atlético Celaya The Club Atlético Celaya was a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. The club was formed in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atletico Cuernavaca (Morelos) and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya (Guanajuato) merged. Another team, Atlét ...

, Monarcas Morelia,

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...

and

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 ...

. He moved back to Honduras where the path to international success began. Despite leaving Mexico, Costly still keeps a house in the state of

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

. His big chance was given to him by

Club Deportivo Platense Platense Football Club S.A. de C.V. or simply Platense is a Honduran football club, located in Platense, Puerto Cortés, Cortés. The club was founded on 4 July 1960 and in 1965 became the first champions of the Honduran National Football Le ...

and, with them, he became the top scorer of the Honduras Apertura 2006–07, scoring ten goals in 19 games. His early success earned him a chance with Polish club

GKS Bełchatów GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Bełchatów that currently plays in the IV liga. History GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, a ...

, who loaned him for half a season. Having impressed, the club spent a record €500,000 on signing him. After a while he became unsettled in Poland, and was linked in the press with a move to

Football League 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 ...

side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

, and supposedly linked with

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

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 ...

, before being reported to be on trial with

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 Fo ...

side

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Costly remained at

for the time being. In January 2009, Costly joined Birmingham City of the second tier of English football on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut for the club on 7 February 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 draw with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

. The loan was not made permanent at the end of the season. On 24 January 2010, Costly was bought by SC Vaslui, signing a 3.5-year contract. He was injured and treated in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

where they told him he would recover before

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, but he was unable to rejoin the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Honduras) represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras (FENAFUTH). They are nicknamed ...

due to FIFA rules. He then went on to sign for

in Mexico, once he recovered from his injury. Costly spent the latter part of the

2011 Major League Soccer season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''E ...

on loan with

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

. In September 2012, Veria F.C. announced Carlos Costly's transfer. Costly joined

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side

Guizhou Zhicheng Guizhou FC (; ) was a professional Chinese football club. The team was based in Guiyang, Guizhou and their home stadium was the 51,636 seater Guiyang Olympic Sports Center. Their majority shareholders were Hengfeng Real Estate, Guizhou Zhicheng ...

on 24 July 2013. On 4 August, he scored two goals in his debut against Yanbian Baekdu Tigers. Costly signed with

Real España Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010 ...

on 2 January 2014. After the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

, he stated he would not return to the national team. He joined

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

at the beginning of the 2014–15 season which was his first club since retiring from international duty. In 2015 he joined Olimpia and in 2019 he ended his stage at Olimpia, signing contract with Marathón.

International career

Since scoring on his debut against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in 2007, Costly has been a standout performer for the Honduras national team helping the ''Catrachos'' reach the semi-finals of the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and

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 celebrates ...

. He is the Honduras national team's second-top goalscorer of all-time in Gold Cup matches, scoring eight goals, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

against

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pet ...

in the 2011 tournament. He was an important member of the Honduran team that qualified for the

but was unable to play at the tournament finals due to injury. Costly scored seven goals in 13 appearances in

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

, including a hat-trick against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. In June 2014, he was named in the Honduran squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

. Costly made his

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

debut in a 3–0 defeat against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 15 June. In the next match, he scored his country's first World Cup goal in 32 years as the team lost 2–1 to

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. Costly started the final Honduras game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup but limped off injured in the 39th minute. Immediately after the match, Costly announced his retirement from the national team stating that "we have to give opportunities to the young players." Despite this, Costly was still called up to the Honduras national team for the

2018 World Cup qualifiers Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

Costly's last ever match with Honduras was in a 0–0 draw with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in the first leg of the 2018 CONCACAF–AFC intercontinental playoff where he came on the 73rd minute replacing Anthony Lozano.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Honduras goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Costly goal.''

Honours

Houston Dynamo *

MLS Eastern Conference The Eastern Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Western Conference. As of 2023, the Eastern Conference contains fifteen teams. The conference has produced sixteen Supporters' Shield champions and ten ML ...

: 2011 Olimpia *

Liga Profesional de Honduras Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

: 2015–16 C *

Honduran Supercup The Honduran Supercup is a Honduran football competition held yearly as a preseason match between the reigning champions of the Liga Nacional and the Honduran Cup. The competition started unofficially in 1997, but it was discontinued after just ...

: 2016 I, 2016 II *

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Marathón *

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 ...

Individual * Top goalscorers in Liga Nacional de Honduras: 2006–07 A

References

External links