On 29 June 2014, in Recife, Celso Borges stepped up to take the first kick of the penalty shootout against Greece in the World Cup round of 16. He scored, Costa Rica won the shootout 5-3 and reached the quarter-finals of a World Cup for the first time. Celso Borges Mora was born on 27 May 1988 in San José, Costa Rica. A midfielder, he has played in Costa Rica, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Turkey. He is the son of Alexandre Guimarães, a Brazilian-born former player and coach who grew up in Costa Rica.
Youth and debut at Saprissa
He came through the ranks at Deportivo Saprissa and made his first-team debut on 15 January 2006 against Ramonense. His first top-flight goal came on 3 September 2006, in a 5-2 win over Puntarenas. On 17 March 2007 he scored in the derby against Alajuelense, a 3-0 victory. Saprissa piled up league titles in that period, and Borges won several national championships between 2006 and 2008. He also scored in CONCACAF competition on 9 April 2008, in a 3-0 win over Houston Dynamo.
Norway and Sweden
In April 2009 he left Costa Rica to join Norwegian side Fredrikstad. He spent three seasons there and became a goalscoring midfielder, with 37 goals in 80 matches for the club according to his career statistics. In January 2012 he moved to AIK in Stockholm, where he played for three years and scored 23 goals in 97 games. With the Swedish club he played in Europa League qualifying and scored against Lech Poznań on 2 August 2012.
Deportivo de La Coruña
On 14 January 2015 he joined Deportivo de La Coruña on loan, and the Galician club signed him permanently that July. On 30 January 2015 he scored twice away at Rayo Vallecano in a 2-1 win. He was a regular in midfield over the following seasons in La Liga. On 30 October 2017 he struck another brace in a 3-1 win at Las Palmas. In 2017 he gave up the Brazilian nationality he held through his father in order to become a Spanish citizen. His first spell at the club ended with 114 appearances and 15 goals.
Göztepe and a return to Riazor
In August 2018 he signed for Göztepe in the Turkish Süper Lig, where he spent two seasons. In September 2020 he returned to Deportivo, then in the Spanish third tier (Segunda División B), and played the 2020-21 season with the club. In September 2021 he went back to Costa Rica to join Alajuelense, the rival he had scored against in his first derby for Saprissa.
Costa Rica national team
He made his Costa Rica debut in June 2008 in a World Cup qualifier against Grenada that ended 3-0. His first goal came on 6 September 2008 in a 7-0 win over Suriname. He played at three World Cups: Brazil 2014, where Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. He took part in the Gold Cups of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023, and in the Copa América Centenario, where he scored against Colombia on 11 June 2016 in a 3-2 win. He won the Copa Centroamericana in 2013 and 2014. In March 2024 he announced his international retirement as the most-capped player in Costa Rica’s history, with more than 160 appearances.
Playing style
A box-to-box midfielder, he can play as a holding midfielder or further forward in a midfield three. In his early years in Europe he stood out for his runs into the box, above all in Norway and Sweden, while in Spain he offered defensive work and strength in the air. For more than a decade he was a fixture in the national team’s midfield.
Honours
With Saprissa he won several Costa Rican league titles between 2006 and 2008. With the national team he lifted the Copa Centroamericana in 2013 and 2014. He was named in the Gold Cup All-Tournament Team in 2009 and in the tournament’s Best XI in 2021. With Alajuelense he won the CONCACAF Central American Cup in 2023 and 2024.
AlajuelenseMidfielderMarket value €160.0K