Bryan Ruiz Gonzalez

**Bryan Jafet Ruiz González** (; born 18 August 1985) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer. A left-footed attacking midfielder, he also played as a second striker.

## Life

At the age of twelve, Gonzalez started playing for Liga Deportiva Alajuelense minor leagues. He quickly became known as a skilled player.  In 2003, at the age of 18, he began playing first division football.  He would eventually become a professional soccer player with the same team.

## Career

During his first tournament, Gonzalez played well.  He soon became an important member of his team.  He played in many important games, like “El Clásico” (The Classic), when Alajuela plays their biggest enemy, Saprissa. In his second year Gonzalez's team won the CONCACAF Champion's Cup.

Though Gonzalez had only been a professional soccer player for a short time, he was asked to represent his country by playing on the Costa Rica National Team.  He played well and was celebrated by the public.

Suddenly, in 2006, Gonzalez was invited to play for a soccer team in Belgium. The team, K.A.A. Gent, wanted to sign him to a four-year deal. Gonzalez accepted.  He became a popular player in Belgium by becoming the best scorer on his team.  He also got a hat-trick.

His success gained Gonzalez a lot of attention and popularity.  He was asked again to play with the Costa Rican national team. He returned to Costa Rica and played well for the national team. Afterward, he hoped to get signed by a good European team.

In 2009, Gonzalez played with FC Twente Enschede in Holland, where is team won the Cup.  In 2010, he began playing for the UEFA Champions League Cup.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|National cup|colspan="2"|League cup|colspan="2"|Continental|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="7"|Alajuelense|2003–04|rowspan="6"|Costa Rican Primera División|20|3|—|—|10|5|—|30|8||||
|2004–05|31|13|—|—|—|—|31|13|||||||||
|2005–06|35|8|—|—|11|6|—|46|14||||||||
|2020–21|40|7|—|—|5|1|—|45|8||||||||
|2021–22|42|2|—|—|2|0|1|0|45|2|||||||
|2022–23|13|2|—|—|5|0|—|18|2||||||||
|rowspan="4"|Gent|2006–07|rowspan="3"|Belgian First Division|16|3|2|0|—|1|0|—|19|3|||
|2007–08|31|11|7|3|—|1|0|—|39|14|||||||
|2008–09|32|12|4|2|—|2|0|—|38|14|||||||
|rowspan="4"|Twente|2009–10|rowspan="3"|Eredivisie|34|24|2|2|—|12|2|—|48|28|||
|2010–11|27|9|3|1|—|9|0|1|0|40|10||||||
|2011–12|4|2|—|—|3|2|1|1|8|5|||||||
|rowspan="5"|Fulham|2011–12|rowspan="3"|Premier League|27|2|2|0|1|0|—|—|30|2|||
|2012–13|29|5|2|0|1|0|—|—|32|5|||||||
|2013–14|12|1|—|2|0|—|—|14|1||||||||
|2014–15|Championship|29|4|1|0|2|1|—|—|32|5||||||
|PSV Eindhoven (loan)|2013–14|Eredivisie|14|5|—|—|—|—|14|5|||||||
|rowspan="4"|Sporting CP|2015–16|rowspan="3"|Primeira Liga|34|8|2|1|1|1|8|3|1|0|46|13|
|2016–17|32|2|2|0|2|0|6|1|—|42|3||||||
|2017–18|20|2|3|0|4|0|6|0|—|33|2||||||
|rowspan="3"|Santos|2018|rowspan="2"|Série A|12|0|—|—|2|0|—|14|0||||
|2019|0|0|0|0|—|—|0|0|0|0|||||||

### International

|National team|Year|Apps|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="18"|Costa Rica|2005|7|1|
|2006|2|0|||
|2007|6|2|||
|2008|8|4|||
|2009|10|2|||
|2010|6|0|||
|2011|7|0|||
|2012|3|0|||
|2013|11|3|||
|2014|12|5|||
|2015|13|3|||
|2016|10|2|||
|2017|13|1|||
|2018|10|2|||
|2019|7|1|||
|2020|0|0|||
|2021|13|2|||
|2022|9|1|||

- _Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ruiz goal_.

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|16 July 2005|Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States||2–3|2–3|2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup||||||||
|2|24 March 2007|Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica||3–0|4–0|Friendly||||||||
|3|2 June 2007|Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica||2–0|2–0|Friendly||||||||
|4|21 June 2008|Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica||2–0|3–0|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|5|6 September 2008|Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica||7–0|7–0|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|6|10 September 2008|Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince, Haiti||1–0|3–2|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|7|2–1|||||||||||||
|8|14 October 2009|Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, United States||1–0|2–2|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|9|2–0|||||||||||||
|10|6 February 2013|Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama||2–2|2–2|2014 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|11|18 June 2013|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||2–0|2–0|2014 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|12|15 October 2013|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||1–0|2–1|2014 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|13|2 June 2014|Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, United States||1–0|1–3|Friendly||||||||
|14|20 June 2014|Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil||1–0|1–0|2014 FIFA World Cup||||||||
|15|29 June 2014|Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil||1–0|1–1 (5–3 pen.)|2014 FIFA World Cup||||||||
|16|13 September 2014|Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles United States||1–1|2–1|2014 Copa Centroamericana||||||||
|17|13 November 2014|Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay||2–1|3–3|Friendly||||||||
|18|11 July 2015|BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States||1–0|1–1|2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup||||||||
|19|8 September 2015|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||1–0|1–0|Friendly||||||||
|20|17 November 2015|Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama||1–0|2–1|2018 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|21|29 March 2016|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||2–0|3–0|2018 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|22|9 October 2016|Krasnodar Stadium, Krasnodar, Russia||2–0|4–3|Friendly||||||||
|23|13 June 2017|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||2–1|2–1|2018 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|24|11 June 2018|King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium||1–0|1–4|Friendly||||||||
|25|11 October 2018|Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico||2–1|2–3|Friendly||||||||
|26|29 June 2019|NRG Stadium, Houston, United States||1–1|1–1 (4–5 pen.)|2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup||||||||
|27|20 July 2021|Exploria Stadium, Orlando, United States||1–0|1–0|2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup||||||||
|28|10 October 2021|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||1–1|2–1|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|29|27 January 2022|Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica||1–0|1–0|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||

## Honours

**Alajuelense**
- CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 2004
- Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 2005
- Primera División: Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006, Apertura 2020
- CONCACAF League: 2020

**Twente**
- Eredivisie: 2009–10
- KNVB Cup: 2010–11
- Johan Cruyff Shield: 2010, 2011

**Sporting CP**
- Taça da Liga: 2017–18
- Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2015

**Costa Rica**
- Copa Centroamericana: 2014

**Individual**
- CONCACAF Men's Player of the Year: 2016
- CONCACAF Goal of the Year: 2014
- CONCACAF Best XI: 2015, 2016, 2017
- Jean-Claude Bouvy Trophy: 2008, 2009
- Player of the season at FC Twente: 2010
- BBC Goal of the Month: October 2011
- IFFHS CONCACAF team of the decade 2011–2020
- IFFHS CONCACAF Men's Team of All Time: 2021

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Bryan Ruiz
- **image**: Bra-Cos_(11).jpg
- **caption**: Ruiz with Costa Rica national football team, Costa Rica at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
- **full name**: Bryan Jafet Ruiz González
- **birth place**: San José, Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
- **height**: 1.87 m
- **position**: Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, Attacking midfielder
- **years1**: 2003–2006
- **clubs1**: Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, Alajuelense
- **caps1**: 86
- **goals1**: 24
- **years2**: 2006–2009
- **clubs2**: K.A.A. Gent, Gent
- **caps2**: 79
- **goals2**: 26
- **years3**: 2009–2011
- **clubs3**: FC Twente, Twente
- **caps3**: 65
- **goals3**: 35
- **years4**: 2011–2015
- **clubs4**: Fulham F.C., Fulham
- **caps4**: 97
- **goals4**: 12
- **years5**: 2014
- **clubs5**: → PSV Eindhoven, PSV (loan)
- **caps5**: 14
- **goals5**: 5
- **years6**: 2015–2018
- **clubs6**: Sporting CP
- **caps6**: 86
- **goals6**: 12
- **years7**: 2018–2020
- **clubs7**: Santos FC, Santos
- **caps7**: 12
- **goals7**: 0
- **years8**: 2020–2022
- **clubs8**: Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, Alajuelense
- **caps8**: 63
- **goals8**: 7
- **totalcaps**: 502
- **totalgoals**: 121
- **nationalyears1**: 2005–2022
- **nationalteam1**: Costa Rica national football team, Costa Rica
- **nationalcaps1**: 147
- **nationalgoals1**: 29