Cristian Gamboa

Cristian Gamboa

Personal information
Full name	Cristian Esteban Gamboa Luna
Date of birth	(1989-10-24) 24 October 1989
Place of birth	Liberia, Costa Rica
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing position	Right Back
Club information
Current team	Celtic
Number	12
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2010	Municipal Liberia	68	(0)
2010–2011	Fredrikstad	27	(1)
2011–2012	Copenhagen	0	(0)
2012	→ Rosenborg (loan)	10	(0)
2013–2014	Rosenborg	30	(0)
2014–2016	West Bromwich Albion	11	(0)
2016–	Celtic	4	(0)
National team‡
2010–	Costa Rica	52	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 November 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 October 2016

Cristian Esteban Gamboa Luna (born 24 October 1989), commonly known as Cristian Gamboa, is a Costa Rican footballer who plays for Celtic. He is a pacy right back with both attacking and defensive capabilities.

Gamboa is an international player for Costa Rica and played in the team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup that reached the quarter-finals.

Club career

When 15 years of age, Gamboa was deemed not good enough to play for Costa Rican giants Saprissa and Alajuelense.^[2] He played from the 2006–2007 season for hometown club Municipal Liberia. He then moved abroad and joined Norwegian side Fredrikstad in summer 2010^[3] and played there for two half seasons, before he joined Copenhagen in summer 2011.^[4] He made his debut in a 0–1 loss against Standard Liege in the UEFA Europa League.

Gamboa joined Rosenborg on a three-month-loan deal in August 2012 with the Norwegian club having an option to buy.^[5] He made his debut on 3 September 2012 in a Tippeligaen match away at Stabæk, winning 2–0.^[6] By November he had impressed sufficiently in the ten games he played in for Rosenborg for them to offer him a permanent deal, and he signed five-year contract with the club.^[7][8]

In late July 2014, English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion agreed to sign Gamboa for a fee estimated in the media as around £2 million. Because the player had insufficient recent international appearances for a work permit to be granted automatically, completion of the deal was dependent on a successful appeal to the Football Association, which was confirmed on 5 August. The player signed a three-year contract.^[9][10]

He made his debut on 26 August 2014, coming on as a second-half substitute in a League cup tie against Oxford United.^[11] He made his League debut a few days later against Swansea City, after which further substitute appearances followed.^[11] Gamboa finally made a starting appearance on 4 October in a 2–1 loss away at Liverpool in the league. Despite the defeat, he was reported as having turned in an impressive performance.^{[12][13][14][15]} It was however to be Gamboa's only league start that season,^[11] and he fell further out of favour when manager Alan Irvine was sacked in December^[16] and replaced by Tony Pulis.^[17] From January 2016 onwards to the end of the season, Gamoba only played one minute of first team football, coming on as an injury-time substitute in a fifth round FA Cup tie against West Ham in February 2015.^[11][17]

Gamboa continued to struggle to hold down a first team place in his second season in England, playing only two games early on in the season. He then went five months without a first team appearance, before making a return to the side in February 2016 in an FA Cup fourth round replay tie against Peterborough United.^[18]

On 30 August 2016, Gamboa signed for Scottish Premiership club Celtic on a three-year deal.^[19]

International career

He participated in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup for Costa Rica^[20] where they finished in fourth place. He has represented Costa Rica in other international games.^[21][22][23]

He made his debut for the Costa Rica national football team in January 2010, in a friendly match against Argentina. Gamboa scored his first goal in a 7–0 home win against Guyana in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. He was selected for the Costa Rica squad that took part at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and played in all five games, reaching the quarter final where they eventually knocked out on penalty kicks by the Netherlands.^[24]

International goals

Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competitions
1	16 October 2012	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José	Guyana	2–0	7–0	2014 World Cup qualifier
2	13 November 2015	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José	Haiti	1–0	1–0	2018 World Cup qualifier
3	28 May 2016	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José	Venezuela	2–1	2–1	Friendly

Personal life

Gamboa is married to Melissa Salazar and they have a son, Felipe.^[25]

Career statistics

As of 12 November 2016

Club^[11]

International^[26]

Honours

Municipal Liberia

• Costa Rican short championship winner: 2009 Clausura^[26]

F.C. Copenhagen

• Danish Cup: 2011–12^[27]

References

External links

• Cristian Gamboa at National-Football-Teams.com
• 2014 World Cup profile - FIFA
• F.C. Copenhagen statistics
• Profile at Football-Lineups.com

Costa Rica squads
Costa Rica squad – 2014 FIFA World Cup 1 Navas 2 Acosta 3 González 4 Umaña 5 Borges 6 Duarte 7 Bolaños 8 Myrie 9 Campbell 10 Ruiz (c) 11 Barrantes 12 Francis 13 Granados 14 Brenes 15 Díaz 16 Gamboa 17 Tejeda 18 Pemberton 19 Miller 20 Calvo 21 Ureña 22 Cubero 23 Cambronero Coach: Pinto Costa Rica squad – 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Carvajal 2 Calvo 3 González 4 Umaña 5 Borges 6 Brown 7 Aguilar 8 Myrie 9 Saborío 10 Ruiz (c) 11 McDonald 12 Campbell 13 Angulo 14 Vega 15 Díaz 16 Gamboa 17 Venegas 18 Pemberton 19 Miller 20 Guzmán 21 Ramírez 22 Cubero 23 Alvarado 24 Waston Coach: Wanchope Costa Rica squad – 2016 Copa América Centenario 1 Carvajal 2 Acosta 3 Calvo 4 Umaña 5 Borges 6 Duarte 7 Bolaños 8 Oviedo 9 Saborío 10 Ruiz (c) 11 Venegas 12 Campbell 13 Granados 14 Azofeifa 15 Salvatierra 16 Gamboa 17 Tejeda 18 Pemberton 19 Waston 20 Woodly 21 Ureña 22 Matarrita 23 Moreira Coach: Ramírez