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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a striker for

Liga de Ascenso Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

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 ...

. 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 is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

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 Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

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, Atléti ...

, Monarcas Morelia,

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

and

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., simply known as Pumas UNAM, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1954 as Club Deportivo Universidad, and they play ...

. 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, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...

. 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 GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional football club based in Bełchatów. The club currently competes in group I of the III liga. History GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, and ...

, 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, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

, and supposedly linked with League One side

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, before being reported to be on trial with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

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. The team compete in the ...

. 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 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. The loan was not made permanent at the end of the season. On 24 January 2010, Costly was bought by

SC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence th ...

, signing a 3.5-year contract. He was injured and treated in Italy where they told him he would recover before

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, but he was unable to rejoin the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team () represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación de Fútbol de Honduras (). They are nicknamed ''Los Catrachos'', ''La Bicolor,'' or ''La H''. Honduras has qu ...

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 The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 16th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 33rd with a national first-division league. This season marked the arrival of ...

on loan with

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

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

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side 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 * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

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 ri ...

, 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 matc ...

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, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

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 () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. 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 Wick ...

against

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

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

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. 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 fr ...

. Costly made his

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

debut in a 3–0 defeat against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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

Anthony Lozano Anthony Rubén Lozano Colón (born 25 April 1993), nicknamed Choco, is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga MX club Santos Laguna and captains the Honduras national team. Club career Early career Born in Yoro, L ...

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. The division of the conferences broadly follows the path of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, with c ...

: 2011 Olimpia *

Liga Profesional de Honduras Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

: 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 was discontinued after just tw ...

: 2016 I, 2016 II *

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The compet ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Marathón *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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

References

External links