Johnny Acosta


Jhonny Gerardo Acosta Zamora, commonly known as Johnny Acosta, is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Costa Rica national football team.

Club career

Acosta made his professional debut for Santos de Guápiles in the 2004/05 season and left them in 2010 for Alajuelense with whom he won three league titles. In January 2013, he moved abroad to have a six-month loan spell at Mexican second division side Dorados.
On 8 September 2016, Acosta joined Herediano. On 29 November 2017, he renewed his contract for another year. On 10 January, he switched to Colombian club Rionegro Águilas.

East Bengal

On 11 July 2018, Acosta joined Indian club East Bengal Club for a fee of. He was issued the number 2 jersey. On 2 September, he made his debut for the club and scored a goal in a 2–2 draw against Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata derby at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta Football League. On 16 April 2019, he left the club.
On 26 June 2019, Acosta signed with Costa Rican club UCR. On 6 March 2020, he returned to East Bengal until the end of the season as a replacement for Liberian Ansumana Kromah.

International career

A relatively late newcomer to the national team set-up, Acosta made his debut for Costa Rica in a March 2011 friendly match against Argentina aged 27. He has represented his country in seven FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2011 Copa América. On 6 September 2013, he scored his first goal for Los Ticos in a 3–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory against the United States in San José.
In June 2014, Acosta was included in Costa Rica's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and made his debut in the competition during the round of 16 match against Greece as a substitute after the sending off of teammate Óscar Duarte. He was in the starting line-up for the quarter-final against the Netherlands, where he helped the team to a clean sheet in a 3–4 penalty shootout loss.
In May 2018 he was named in Costa Rica’s 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He played the whole of the team's group stage matches against Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland.

Career statistics

International

International goals

DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.6 September 2013Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica1–03–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.26 March 2016Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica1–11–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification