Nicolás Ignacio Castillo Mora (born 14 February 1993) is a Chilean 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 s a striker for Santiago City.

Club career

Universidad Católica

Castillo was born and raised in Renca, suburb of the capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. During his childhood, he was part of Universidad Católica's

supporter groups In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Historically, supporters were left to an individual's free choice and were assu ...

and later joined the club's youth ranks when he was 12. In 2010, Castillo made a goalscorer debut against

San Pedro de Atacama San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km (60 mi) southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcan ...

football team for a

cup game The cup game is a children's clapping game that involves tapping and hitting a cup using a defined rhythm. The game can be played by many players seated around a table and is often played in large groups. Each player possesses a cup and in unison ...

, sealing a 10–0 thrash of Católica after scoring the tenth and last goal of it. In 2011, Castillo debuted professionally in a league match against Cobreloa, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute during a 2–0 win. On 2 March 2012, he scored his first competitive goal in a 2–0 win over

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, again for a league match. As a result of his performance in the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

, Castillo was linked 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

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, where his compatriot

Ángelo Henríquez Ángelo José Henríquez Iturra (; born 13 April 1994) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Deportes La Serena. Henríquez began his career with Universidad de Chile before moving to English club Manchester United ...

was playing at the time. Despite the rumours surrounding his move, the transfer never materialised.

Club Brugge

In January 2014, Universidad Católica reached an agreement to sell Castillo to

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

side

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

. The move became official as Castillo signed for a fee of €3 million on a deal until 2018. He scored in his debut for Club Brugge in a 3–1 win over

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

on 9 February 2014. He struggled to score again but did so during the play-offs in the last game of the season against Zulte Waregem, with Brugge winning 2–0. On 9 November 2014, Castillo netted a hat-trick in Brugge's 5–0 home win over

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

. On 28 January 2015, he was loaned to

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

until the end of the season, with an option to buy. On 7 April, having only made one substitute appearance for the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club, he was ruled out for the remainder of the season with damage to his right knee ligaments. Later, on 28 August 2015, Castillo joined Italian side

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

on loan from Club Brugge until the end of the season.

Pumas

In 2017, Castillo joined Mexican club

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 ...

, where he played for a year.

Benfica

On 4 June 2018, he was sold to Portuguese side Benfica, signing a five-year contract.

América

On 1 February 2019, Castillo returned to Mexico, joining

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

on a €7 million transfer fee, potentially rising to €9 million. Nine days later, he made his league debut as a second-half substitute in América's 3–0 loss to León at the

Estadio Azteca Estadio Azteca () (officially known as Estadio Banorte for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium located in Coyoacán, Mexico City. It is the official home of football team Club América, as well as the Mexico national team. The stadium ...

Juventude

On 26 August 2021, Castillo joined Brazilian side Juventude on loan from América until the end of the season.

Santiago City

After leaving Universidad Católica in 2024, Castillo signed with Santiago City in the Chilean Segunda La Liga 2D in March 2025.

International career

Castillo was listed in the 21-man squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In the tournament, he scored four goals, including an opener against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and was the top-scorer for Chile. Castillo made his debut for the Chile senior team on 23 March 2013 in a 1–0

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) The CONMEBOL, South American Zone of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification saw nine teams competing for #Intercontinental play-off, 4 or 5 berths in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, finals. Brazil national football team, Brazil automatically qualified for th ...

away loss to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for Jean Beausejour. In 2016, Castillo was nominated for the 2016 Copa América squad and was part of the Chilean victory in the tournament. He was subbed in the 104th minute of the final against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, which Chile won 4–2 on penalties, where he converted the 2nd spot kick.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.''

Honours

Universidad Católica *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

: Torneo Clausura 2015–16, Torneo Apertura 2016–17 *

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

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 ...

Supercopa de Chile The Supercopa de Chile (''Supercup of Chile'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Chile organised by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between t ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Club Brugge *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2014–15 Benfica *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

: 2018–19 América *

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

: Clausura 2019 *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

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 ...

Chile *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Nicolas 1993 births Living people Footballers from Santiago, Chile Men's association football forwards Chilean men's footballers 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Chile men's under-20 international footballers Chile men's international footballers Chilean Primera División players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players Serie A players Liga MX players Primeira Liga players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Segunda División Profesional de Chile players Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Club Brugge KV players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Frosinone Calcio players Club Universidad Nacional footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Club América footballers Esporte Clube Juventude players Club Necaxa footballers Santiago City FC footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players Copa América–winning players