| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Denilson Costa | ||
| Date of birth | 10 June 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | São João de Meriti, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Necaxa (Coach) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1991 | Limonense | 12 | (9) |
| 1991–1995 | Olimpia | 67 | (32) |
| 1995 | Belén | ||
| 1995–1997 | Motagua | 50 | (20) |
| 1997–2002 | Olimpia | 195 | (67) |
| 2003–2005 | Marathón | 91 | (24) |
| 2005–2006 | Platense | 32 | (11) |
| 2006 | Heredia | 18 | (5) |
| 2007 | Atlético Olanchano | 30 | (1) |
| 2007 | Necaxa | 16 | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2003–2005 | Honduras | 5 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2011 | Necaxa | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2007 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2006 | |||
Denilson Costa (born 10 June 1968) is a Brazilian and naturalized Honduran football coach and former player.
He is currently the second all-time top scorer in the Honduran Liga Nacional and was also the first to reach 150 goals. [1] Now he is a teacher in Honduras. Costa along with Marcelo Ferreira and Justin Arboleda are among the only naturalized Honduran nationals to have played for the Honduras national football team.
Born in Brazil, Denilson moved to Honduras in 1991 and made his league debut in September 1991 for Olimpia against Súper Estrella, scoring the only goal of the game. He spent his entire career in Honduras, except for short spells in Costa Rica with Limonense [2] for whom he scored the fastest goal in Costa Rica's premier division history in December 1990 [3] and Belén and in Guatemala with Heredia. He finished his playing career at Necaxa to become the club's manager a few seasons later. [4]
He played 481 matches is Honduran professional football, which is still a record. [5]
Denilson made his debut for his adopted home country Honduras in an October 2003 friendly match against Bolivia and has earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals.
His final international was a March 2005 friendly against the USA.
On 6 March 2011, Costa made his professional debut as coach with C.D. Necaxa in the 0–1 home defeat against F.C. Motagua. [6]
Denilson married Costa Rican Mirta Yorleni Ortiz whom he met while playing in Limón. She is a niece of former Costa Rican international Enrique Rivers. He became a Honduran citizen in 2002.