Byron Bonilla Martínez (born 30 August 1993) is a Nicaraguan 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Real Estelí 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) ...

and the Nicaragua national team.

Club career

Early career

Byron Bonilla was born in

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, but he moved to

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 ...

along with his mother at the age of nine. During his childhood, Bonilla did not have a football education, and he felt interested in practicing it when he turned sixteen. Byron played for Costa Rican LINAFA clubs like San Pablo, San Rafael, and JK Sporting. He spelled a two-month period with Saprissa de Corazón of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, however he had to leave the team because of permanency issues in the country.

Sporting San José

In mid 2016, Bonilla was acquired by the Second Division team Sporting San José ahead of their inaugural season in the league. He made his official debut on 1 October in the 0−5 victory over Coto Brus. He finished his first season with eight goals. At the 2017—18 season, he became one of the leaders for the team and was awarded as the best foreign player.

Municipal Grecia

On 11 January 2019, signed a six-month loan deal with First Division club

Municipal Grecia Municipal Grecia is an association football club based in Grecia, Costa Rica. Founded in 1998, the club will make their debut in the Liga FPD after being promoted from the Liga de Ascenso. The team plays in the Estadio Allen Riggioni. History I ...

Deportivo Saprissa

On 22 May 2019, Deportivo Saprissa announced that Bonilla joined the club on a two-year contract, on loan from Sporting San José.

International career

On 8 December 2016, Bonilla received his first call-up to the Nicaragua national team managed by

Henry Duarte Henry Duarte Molina (born 5 October 1958) is a Costa Rican football coach. Managerial career Duarte has coaches several Costa Rican Primera División clubs, with him taking charge of Herediano, one of the country's ''Big Four'', in 1997 as one ...

. He debuted on 30 December in a match 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 ...

, as a substitution for

Daniel Cadena Daniel Cadena Sanchez (born 9 February 1987 in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, Andalucia, Spain) is a football forward who currently plays for Spanish team Mérida AD and the Nicaragua national football team The Nicaragua national football t ...

at the beginning of the second half. On 4 June 2019, Bonilla was named to Nicaragua's final 23-man for the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in th ...

International goals

''Scores and results list Nicaragua's goal tally first.''

Honours

Individual * Best foreign player of the Costa Rican

: 2017–18 * Best XI of the Costa Rican

: 2017–18 * Included on the team of the week of the Costa Rican

: 2017 Apertura, weeks 4, 5, 6, 11, 18, quarter–finals second leg, semi–finals second leg. * Most valuable player of the week: 2017 Apertura, week 4. * Included on the team of the week of the Costa Rican

: 2018 Clausura, weeks 9, quarter–finals second leg, semi–finals first and second leg. Liga Primera (C2023)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonilla, Byron 1993 births Living people Nicaraguan men's footballers People from Granada, Nicaragua Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Men's association football midfielders Nicaragua men's international footballers Liga FPD players Municipal Grecia players Deportivo Saprissa players Real Estelí FC players Nicaraguan expatriate men's footballers Nicaraguan expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players