Carlo Costly


Carlo Yaír Costly Molina is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga de Ascenso 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The loan was not made permanent at the end of the season.
On 24 January 2010, Costly was bought by SC Vaslui, 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, 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.
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. On 4 August, he scored two goals in his debut against Yanbian Baekdu Tigers.
Costly signed for Real España on 2 January 2014. After the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he stated he would not return to the national team and joined Gaziantepspor at the beginning of the 2014–15 season.
In 2015, Costly joined Olimpia, a move that lasted four years until his signing for 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.
Costly scored seven goals in 13 appearances in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, including a hat-trick against Canada. In June 2014, he was named in the Honduran squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Costly made his FIFA World Cup debut in a 3–0 defeat against France 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. 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 in the first leg of the 2018 CONCACAF–AFC intercontinental playoff where he came on the 73rd minute replacing Anthony Lozano.

Career statistics

Club

International

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
12 June 2007Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula, Honduras3–13–1Friendly
28 June 2007Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, United States2–32–32007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
310 June 2007Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, United States1–12–12007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
410 June 2007Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, United States2–12–12007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
56 February 2008Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras2–02–0Friendly
611 October 2008Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras2–13–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification
71 April 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras1–03–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification
81 April 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras3–03–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification
96 June 2009Soldier Field, Chicago, United States1–01–22010 FIFA World Cup qualification
104 July 2009Qwest Field, Seattle, United States1–01–02009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1111 July 2009Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States4–04–02009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1212 August 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras1–04–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
1312 August 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras4–04–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
1414 November 2009Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras1–02–1Friendly
1529 May 2011Robertson Stadium, Houston, United States1–02–2Friendly
1610 June 2011FIU Stadium, Miami, United States2–17–12011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1710 June 2011FIU Stadium, Miami, United States4–17–12011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1810 June 2011FIU Stadium, Miami, United States5–17–12011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1910 August 2011Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States1–02–0Friendly
2010 August 2011Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States2–02–0Friendly
212 June 2012Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C., United States3–03–0Friendly
2216 October 2012Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras3–08–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2316 October 2012Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras5–08–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2416 October 2012Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras8–18–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2522 March 2013Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras1–22–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
266 September 2013Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico2–12–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2710 September 2013Estadio Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula, Honduras2–12–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2815 October 2013Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica1–02–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2919 November 2013BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States1–12–2Friendly
3019 November 2013BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States2–12–2Friendly
311 June 2014BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States2–42–4Friendly
3220 June 2014Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil1–01–22014 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Houston Dynamo
  • MLS Eastern Conference: 2011
Olimpia
Marathón
  • Honduran Supercup: 2019
Individual