Ricardo Costa

Ricardo Costa

Costa playing for Wolfsburg
Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Miguel Moreira Costa
Date of birth	(1981-05-16) 16 May 1981 (age 31)
Place of birth	Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Valencia
Number	20
Youth career
1996–1999	Boavista
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2003	Porto B	69	(13)
2002–2007	Porto	75	(3)
2007–2010	Wolfsburg	42	(6)
2010	→ Lille (loan)	10	(0)
2010–	Valencia	41	(0)
National team‡
2002–2004	Portugal U21	23	(0)
2005–	Portugal	10	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 April 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 June 2010

Ricardo Miguel Moreira da Costa (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁiˈkaɾdu ˈkɔʃtɐ]; born 16 May 1981 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Valencia CF in Spain. Mainly a central defender, he can occasionally play as a full back.

Club career

Costa, a product of Boavista FC's youth system, moved to neighbours F.C. Porto when he was still an apprentice. He made his first division debut in a 2002 derby match, precisely against Boavista, but never became more than a fringe player, being preferred in the stopper's pecking order in consecutive seasons to namesake Jorge, Pedro Emanuel, Pepe and Bruno Alves.

In July 2007, as first team opportunities appeared few at Porto, Costa joined Bundesliga's VfL Wolfsburg, on a three-year contract.^[1] After a shaky start, he finished the season as an undisputed starter, as the side reached a UEFA Cup final standing.

In the summer of 2009, Costa was about to be transferred to Real Zaragoza, but the transfer could not be completed, because the two parties could not come to an agreement.^[2] The deal was finally canceled on 29 July 2009, and Costa returned to Wolfsburg.^[3]

On 28 January 2010, although he was being used regularly at Wolfsburg, Costa transferred to OSC Lille in France.^[4] On 17 May, after having contributed relatively to Lille's fourth place, he moved teams and countries again, joining Valencia CF of Spain on a four-year contract.^[5][6]

On 9 March 2011, Costa scored his first goal for Valencia, putting the Che ahead at FC Schalke 04 for the season's UEFA Champions League round-of-16, in an eventual 1–3 loss (2–4 on aggregate).^[7] In the ensuing off-season, he was selected by manager Unai Emery as one of the team's captains.

Thing quickly turned sour for Costa however: he was replaced at half-time of an eventual 4–3 home win against Racing de Santander,^[8] and quickly went from first to fourth-choice after unflaterring comments directed against his teammates and management.^[9][10][11]

International career

Costa played for Portugal at under-21 level and was also a part of the Olympic team that played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A full international since 2005, he was called-up to the squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared against Germany in the third-place match (1–3 loss).

On 10 May 2010, national team boss Carlos Queiroz announced a provisional list of 24 players in view for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Costa being included, thus returning to the squad after an absence of four years; in the tournament, he played twice, always as right back: in the group stage 0–0 against Brazil, and the round-of-16 loss against Spain (0–1, where he was sent off in the last minute, receiving a three-match ban for his actions^[12]).

Honours

Porto

• Intercontinental Cup: 2004
• UEFA Champions League: 2003–04
• UEFA Cup: 2002–03
• Portuguese League: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07
• Portuguese Cup: 2003–04, 2005–06

Wolfsburg

• German League: 2008–09

Orders

• Medal of Merit, Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)^[13]

References

External links

• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo
• Ricardo Costa at fussballdaten.de (German)
• BDFutbol profile
• Ricardo Costa at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ricardo Costa – FIFA competition record
• 2010 FIFA World Cup profile
• Transfermarkt profile
• CiberChe stats and bio (Spanish)

Portugal squads v t e Portugal squad – 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Third Place 1 Moreira 2 Mário Sérgio 3 Meireles 4 Bruno Alves 5 Costa 6 Bosingwa 7 Oliveira 8 Viana 9 H. Almeida 10 C. Martins 11 J. Ribeiro 12 Bruno Vale 13 P. Ribeiro 14 João Paulo 15 Garcia 16 J. Pereira 17 Aguiar 18 Custódio 19 Carlitos 20 Danny 21 Lourenço 22 Beto Coach: Romão v t e Portugal squad – 2004 Summer Olympics 1 Moreira 2 M. Sérgio 3 R. Meireles 4 Bruno Alves 5 Costa (c) 6 Meira 7 C. Ronaldo 8 Viana 9 H. Almeida 10 C. Martins 11 Ribeiro 12 Frechaut 13 Boa Morte 14 Bosingwa 15 Lourenço 16 João Paulo 17 Danny 18 Bruno Vale Coach: Romão v t e Portugal squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Ricardo 2 Ferreira 3 Caneira 4 Costa 5 Meira 6 Costinha 7 Figo (c) 8 Petit 9 Pauleta 10 H. Viana 11 Simão 12 Quim 13 Miguel 14 N. Valente 15 Boa Morte 16 Carvalho 17 C. Ronaldo 18 Maniche 19 Tiago 20 Deco 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Santos 23 H. Postiga Coach: Scolari v t e Portugal squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Eduardo 2 Bruno Alves 3 Ferreira 4 Rolando 5 Duda 6 Carvalho 7 C. Ronaldo (c) 8 P. Mendes 9 Liédson 10 Danny 11 Simão 12 Beto 13 Miguel 14 Veloso 15 Pepe 16 Meireles 17 Amorim 18 H. Almeida 19 Tiago 20 Deco 21 Costa 22 D. Fernandes 23 Coentrão Coach: Queiroz v t e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Eduardo 2 Bruno Alves 3 Pepe 4 Veloso 5 Coentrão 6 Custódio 7 C. Ronaldo (c) 8 J. Moutinho 9 H. Almeida 10 Quaresma 11 N. Oliveira 12 Rui Patrício 13 R. Costa 14 Rolando 15 Micael 16 Meireles 17 Nani 18 Varela 19 M. Lopes 20 H. Viana 21 J. Pereira 22 Beto 23 Postiga Coach: Bento