Cristian Esteban Gamboa Luna (born 24 October 1989), commonly known as Cristian Gamboa, is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Bundesliga club VfL Bochum.
Gamboa is an international player for Costa Rica and played in the team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup that reached the quarter-finals.
Gamboa was born in Liberia, Costa Rica. At age 15, he was deemed not good enough to play for Costa Rican clubs 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 Liège 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][11]
He made his debut on 26 August 2014, coming on as a second-half substitute in a League cup tie against Oxford United.[12] He made his League debut a few days later against Swansea City, after which further substitute appearances followed.[12] 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.[13][14][15][16] It was however to be Gamboa's only league start that season,[12] and he fell further out of favour when manager Alan Irvine was sacked in December[17] and replaced by Tony Pulis.[18] From January 2015 onwards to the end of the season, Gamboa 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.[12][18]
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.[19]
On 30 August 2016, Gamboa signed for Scottish Premiership club Celtic on a three-year deal.[20]
On 27 August 2019, Gamboa joined VfL Bochum on a two-year deal.[21] In the 2022 season, he scored once in a 4-2 win against FC Bayern Munich.
He participated in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup for Costa Rica[22] where they finished in fourth place. He has represented Costa Rica in other international games.[23][24][25]
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 national team against part at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and played in all five games, reaching the quarter-final where they were eventually knocked out on penalty kicks by the Netherlands.[26]
In May 2018 he was selected in Costa Rica's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[27]
Gamboa is married to Melissa Salazar and they have 3 children, Felipe, Julián and Bruna.[28]
Municipal Liberia
Copenhagen
Celtic
VfL Bochum
Costa Rica
Individual
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