Carlo Costly

Carlo Yaír Costly Molina (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlo ˈkostli]; born 18 July 1982) is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga de Ascenso club Lone FC.

Carlo Costly
Personal information
Full nameCarlo Yaír Costly Molina[1]
Date of birth (1982-07-18) 18 July 1982 (age 41)[1]
Place of birthSan Pedro Sula, Honduras
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s)Striker
Team information
Current team
Lone FC
Number13
Youth career
Atlético Celaya
Monarcas Morelia
Atlas
UNAM
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2003–2007Platense19(10)
2007GKS Bełchatów (loan)11(6)
2007–2010GKS Bełchatów60(10)
2009Birmingham City (loan)8(0)
2010Vaslui13(4)
2011–2012Atlas11(2)
2011Houston Dynamo (loan)11(1)
2012–2013Veria25(6)
2013Guizhou Zhicheng11(7)
2014Real España13(7)
2014–2015Gaziantepspor7(0)
2015–2018Olimpia87(38)
2019–2020Marathón35(11)
2020Platense10(1)
2021Marathón20(5)
2022–Lone FC11(4)
International career
2007–2017Honduras78(32)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 June 2022

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. 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 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 with the reserve teams of Atlético Celaya, Monarcas Morelia, Atlas and Pumas UNAM.[2]

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.[2] His big chance was given to him by Club Deportivo Platense 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, who loaned him for half a season.[3] 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 side Plymouth Argyle, and supposedly linked with League One side Leeds United, before being reported to be on trial with Premier League side Birmingham City.[4] Costly remained at GKS Bełchatów 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.[5] 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.[6] The loan was not made permanent at the end of the season.[7]

On 24 January 2010, Costly was bought by SC Vaslui, signing a 3.5-year contract.[8] He was injured and treated in Italy where they told him he would recover before 2010 FIFA World Cup, but he was unable to rejoin the Honduras national football team due to FIFA rules. He then went on to sign for Atlas in Mexico, once he recovered from his injury.[9]

Costly spent the latter part of the 2011 Major League Soccer season on loan with Houston Dynamo. In September 2012, Veria F.C. announced Carlos Costly's transfer.

Costly joined China League One side Guizhou Zhicheng on 24 July 2013.[10] On 4 August, he scored two goals in his debut against Yanbian Baekdu Tigers.[11]

Costly signed with Real España on 2 January 2014. After the 2014 World Cup, he stated he would not return to the national team. He joined Gaziantepspor 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 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 in 2009 and 2011. He is the Honduras national team's second-top goalscorer of all-time in Gold Cup matches, scoring eight goals, including a hat-trick against Grenada in the 2011 tournament.

He was an important member of the Honduran team that qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup but was unable to play at the tournament finals due to injury.[12]

Costly scored seven goals in 13 appearances in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, including a hat-trick against Canada.[12] In June 2014, he was named in the Honduran squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[13] Costly made his FIFA World Cup debut in a 3–0 defeat against France on 15 June.[14] In the next match, he scored his country's first World Cup goal in 32 years as the team lost 2–1 to Ecuador. Costly started the final Honduras game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup but limped off injured in the 39th minute.[15] Immediately after the match, Costly announced his retirement from the national team stating that "we have to give opportunities to the young players."[16] Despite this, Costly was still called up to the Honduras national team for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers[17] Costly's last ever match with Honduras was in a 0–0 draw with Australia in the first leg of the 2018 CONCACAF–AFC intercontinental playoff where he came on the 73rd minute replacing Anthony Lozano.[18]

Career statistics

Club

As of 28 April 2013[citation needed]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueDomestic CupsContinentalTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Platense2006–07LINA18101810
Bełchatów2006–07Ekstraklasa11622138
2007–082655020335
2008–091220000122
2009–101010000101
Total591472206816
Vaslui2009–10Liga I134134
Veria2012–13Superleague Greece25622278
Career total11534942012638

International

Scores and results list Honduras goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Costly goal.
List of international goals scored by Carlo Costly[19]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
12 June 2007Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Trinidad and Tobago3–13–1Friendly
28 June 2007Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, United States  Panama2–32–32007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
310 June 2007Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, United States  Mexico1–12–12007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
42–1
56 February 2008Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Paraguay2–02–0Friendly
611 October 2008Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Canada2–13–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification
71 April 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Mexico1–03–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification
83–0
96 June 2009Soldier Field, Chicago, United States  United States1–01–22010 FIFA World Cup qualification
104 July 2009Qwest Field, Seattle, United States  Haiti1–01–02009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1111 July 2009Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States  Grenada4–04–02009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1212 August 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Costa Rica1–04–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
134–0
1414 November 2009Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras  Latvia1–02–1Friendly
1529 May 2011Robertson Stadium, Houston, United States  El Salvador1–02–2Friendly
1610 June 2011FIU Stadium, Miami, United States  Grenada2–17–12011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
174–1
185–1
1910 August 2011Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States  Venezuela1–02–0Friendly
202–0
212 June 2012Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C., United States  El Salvador3–03–0Friendly
2216 October 2012Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Canada3–08–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
235–0
248–1
2522 March 2013Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Mexico1–22–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
266 September 2013Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico  Mexico2–12–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2710 September 2013Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula, Honduras  Panama2–12–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2815 October 2013Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica  Jamaica1–02–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2919 November 2013BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States  Ecuador1–12–2Friendly
302–1
311 June 2014BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States  Israel2–42–4Friendly
3220 June 2014Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil  Ecuador1–01–22014 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Houston Dynamo

Olimpia

Marathón

Individual

References

External links