Douglas Costa

Douglas Costa de Souza, born on 14 September 1990, is a Brazilian footballer from Sapucaia do Sul, in Rio Grande do Sul. A left-footed winger, he entered Grêmio’s youth system in 2002 and made his senior debut for the Porto Alegre club in 2008. He won the Campeonato Gaúcho with Grêmio in 2009 and 2010 before joining Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2010. At Shakhtar, Costa became a regular in Mircea Lucescu’s attacking side. The club won five consecutive Ukrainian Premier League titles during his first five full seasons: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15. He also took part in Shakhtar’s 2010–11 Champions League run, which ended in the quarter-finals against Barcelona. His combination of acceleration, dribbling and crossing made him one of the Ukrainian champions’ principal wide attackers. Bayern Munich signed Costa in July 2015. In his first German season, Bayern won both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal. Costa contributed four league goals and nine assists in that 2015–16 Bundesliga campaign. He added another Bundesliga title in 2016–17, then joined Juventus on loan in 2017. Juventus made the move permanent in 2018. With the Turin club, he won Serie A in 2017–18, 2018–19, and 2019–20, and lifted the Coppa Italia in 2017–18. Costa returned to Bayern on loan for 2020–21. That squad won the Bundesliga and the FIFA Club World Cup, the latter delayed from 2020 and played in February 2021. He subsequently returned to Grêmio on loan in 2021, moved to LA Galaxy in 2022, and joined Fluminense in 2024. For Brazil, Costa made his senior debut against Turkey in November 2014. He was selected for the 2015 Copa América, the 2016 Copa América Centenario, and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In Brazil’s 2–0 group-stage win over Costa Rica at that World Cup, he scored in stoppage time after Philippe Coutinho had opened the scoring. That goal remains a defining international tournament moment in a career spanning Brazil, Ukraine, Germany, Italy and the United States. At Bayern, Costa wore number 11, and he wore the same number at Juventus. During his Shakhtar period, he played alongside fellow Brazilian attacker Luiz Adriano. Those moves placed him alongside players such as Robert Lewandowski at Bayern and Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus. Fluminense announced his signing on 28 January 2024, on a free transfer, with a contract through 2025. He was registered for Copa Libertadores competition.