Rónald Alfonso González Brenes (born 8 August 1970, in San Carlos) is a Costa Rican former 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 lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He was most recently the manager for Liga Nacional club

Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, is a professional association football, football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, Liga Nacional, th ...

Club career

González made his professional debut for

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

on 14 July 1989 against Uruguay de Coronado but left them to move abroad and play for

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He also had a short spell on loan at

Vorwärts Steyr ( ; "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as the success ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He returned to play for Saprissa and won almost everything he could pursue, as the team's captain. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he starred for the

of Guatemala where he was captain and champion of the Guatemalan tournament several times as well. In his playing days with

, he won five national championships and three

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

, and was part of the team that played in the

2005 FIFA Club World Championship The 2005 FIFA Club World Championship (officially known as the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the second FIFA Club World Championship, a football competition organised by FIFA for the champion clu ...

, where Saprissa finished third behind

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He played a total of 318 games for Saprissa, scoring 26 goals. He retired in October 2006.

International career

He played for Costa Rica at the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta' ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

where he scored a goal against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. González made his senior debut for

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

in a May 1990 warm-up match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, just ahead of the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

in Italy. There, at 19 years of age, he scored a goal against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, becoming the youngest player to score a goal in that

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. He earned a total of 65 caps, scoring 5 goals and represented his country in 19

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and at the

1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the eleventh overall CONCACAF tournament. The last time the CONCACAF Championship was he ...

as well as at the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1997 UNCAF Nations Cup This page details the 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup, played in Guatemala. Squads :For a complete list of all participating squads see ''UNCAF Nations Cup 1997 squads'' Preliminary round Participating teams 6 Central American Football Union, UNCA ...

s. Also, he was his country's captain during the

1997 Copa América The 1997 Copa America was the 38th edition of the Copa America. It was held in Bolivia from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. In this edition, Costa Rica and Mexico were the invited teams to br ...

and was a non-playing squad member at the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

. His final international was an August 2000

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, González took up coaching and was in charge of the

Costa Rica national under-20 football team The Costa Rica national under-20 football team represents Costa Rica in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Costa Rican Football Federation. Competitive record FIFA U-20 World Cup Fixtures and recent results The ...

and acted as caretaker for the senior national team. In December 2011 he was announced as manager of his former club

. In December 2012, González was reported to leave Comunicaciones for

with whom he became the 61st Costa Rica league title winning manager in May 2014. On Tuesday September 30, Saprissa announced that has cut González from managing the team.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

He is married to Yuliana Gaitán and they have two children.

References

External links

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SturmArchiv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Ronald 1970 births Living people People from San Carlos (canton) Footballers from Alajuela Province Men's association football central defenders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players Deportivo Saprissa players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players SK Sturm Graz players SK Vorwärts Steyr players Comunicaciones F.C. players C.S. Herediano footballers Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia Expatriate men's footballers in Yugoslavia Yugoslav First League players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Guatemala Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Austria Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Costa Rica national football team managers Costa Rica men's under-20 international footballers Deportivo Saprissa managers Comunicaciones F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Costa Rican football managers Costa Rican expatriate football managers