Wílber Mauricio Wright Reynolds (born 20 December 1970) 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 ...

who played as a defender and current manager of Cartaginés. He was a key member of the Costa Rica national team for over ten years.

Club career

Wright started his career at the academies of

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 ...

, where in 1992 he was promoted to the first team.Breve historial de Mauricio Wright (Profile)
– Nación He moved abroad to play for

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 ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, where he played alongside compatriots

Rolando Fonseca Rolando Fonseca Jiménez (born 6 June 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. Nicknamed ''El Principito'' (The little prince)''La Nación (San José), ...

Floyd Guthrie Floyd Anthony Guthrie Bell (born 14 March 1966) is a Guatemalan-Costa Rican retired footballer who has played as a defender, midfielder and forward. Club career A versatile player, Limón-born Guthrie started his career at Uruguay de Coronad ...

and Jéwisson Bennett. He then played three seasons (1999–2001) in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, split between the San Jose Clash (later Earthquakes) and the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

, alongside William Sunsing. He scored six goals and added three assists in MLS league play. Wright has also had a brief spell at Herediano. His performances in the World Cup in the summer of 2002 attracted the people of

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

who signed him immediately after alongside his compatriot,

Walter Centeno Wálter Centeno Corea (born 6 October 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and current manager of Santos de Guapiles. He was a regular member of the Costa Rica national team and holds th ...

. He performed very well, while also playing in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

scoring the winner against APOEL on the qualifiers on 28 August 2002. His contract with the club had a duration of 3 years, however he files an appeal and was released after some issues with the administration about his salary. He also had a short stint in China with Shenyang Ginde. With Saprissa, he has won three national championships and two

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 returned to the team to play his last season as a professional, accomplishing his dream of retiring as a 'morado'.

International career

Wright made his debut for Costa Rica national football team at the December

1995 UNCAF Nations Cup Six national Association football, football teams from Central America competed in the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup (''Copa Centroamericana''). The winning team were the defending champions Honduras national football team, Honduras, who defeated Guatem ...

match against

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and earned a total of 67 caps, scoring 6 goals. After not playing in qualifying rounds, he started in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, scoring a goal. He also played (and scored) in the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2004 Copa América The 2004 Copa América was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in P ...

s. His final international was a July

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious i ...

match against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Managerial career

Wright was named manager of Brujas in May 2007 and he won the 2009 winter championship with the club. He has coached teams in Costa Rica and Guatemala and took the reins at Cartaginés in May 2014. He was announced the new manager at Herediano in December 2014, replacing

Jafet Soto Jafet Soto Molina (born April 1, 1976), is a Costa Rican football (soccer) coach, general manager and retired player who played for Club Sport Herediano. Club career In Costa Rica, Soto has only played for Herediano, where he is considered an ...

. In May 2021, he won the Clausura season with Saprissa, thus giving the team its record 36th title.

Honours

;Sarprissa *

Primera División de Costa Rica The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2006–07 *

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 ...

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 ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

* Central American Club Championship:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

International *

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 ...

Best XI:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Mauricio 1970 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Costa Rican men's footballers Men's association football defenders Deportivo Saprissa players Comunicaciones F.C. players San Jose Earthquakes players New England Revolution players C.S. Herediano footballers AEK Athens F.C. players Guangzhou City F.C. players Liga FPD players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Super League Greece players Costa Rica men's international footballers 1997 Copa América players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Greece Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in China Costa Rican football managers C.S. Herediano managers Puntarenas F.C. managers C.S.D. Municipal managers Costa Rican expatriate football managers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Costa Rican people of Jamaican descent