Christian Bolaños

Christian Bolaños Navarro (born 17 May 1984) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who plays as a right winger. After his international debut with the Costa Rica national team in 2005, Bolaños earned over 80 international caps and played at three FIFA World Cups.

His brother Jonathan is also a footballer.

Deportivo Saprissa
With Saprissa Bolaños won various national championships as well as a UNCAF Cup title and a CONCACAF Champions Cup title. Bolaños participated in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup with his team, and was awarded by FIFA as the third best player of the tournament. Following this success he was invited to attend a ten-day trial with Liverpool, although he was not signed on a permanent basis.

On 9 August 2006, he signed a one-year loan deal with Premier League side Charlton Athletic. However, he failed to obtain a work permit having not played enough games for his country, and the deal fell through.

OB
On 2 June 2007, Bolaños signed a three-year contract with the Danish side OB in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. Struggling to make an impact on the strong Danish midfield, Bolaños was a target for other clubs.

Start
On 6 November 2008, Bolaños signed a contract with newly promoted Norwegian side Start starting 1 January 2009.

In IK Start's first test against a Tippeligaen side, Bolaños received rave reviews from the media after outplaying Norwegian international Trond Erik Bertelsen of Viking, who a few days earlier had controlled Bastian Schweinsteiger during Norway's] win against Germany. Start coach Knut Tørum said after the game that he will be playing on the right wing during the 2009 season. In his first official match for Start, Bolaños scored two goals against Strømsgodset.

FC Copenhagen
On 30 August 2010, Bolaños signed a three-year contract with the defending champions of Denmark, FC Copenhagen at a cost of €1 million or 7.5 mio. DK kroner.

On 22 August 2012, Bolaños was linked with a £3 million move to English side Wolverhampton Wanderers, which could re-unite him with former Copenhagen manager Ståle Solbakken.

Cartaginés
On 8 September 2014, Bolaños signed with Cartaginés, only to leave them for Qatari side Al Gharafa after the winter championship.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
On 20 January 2016, Bolaños signed a multi-year contract with Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer for an undisclosed amount.

Saprissa
Following two years with Vancouver, Bolaños returned to Saprissa again after his option was declined following the 2017 season.

International career
Bolaños played in the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Trinidad and Tobago.

He made his debut for the Costa Rica senior national team in a May 2005 friendly match against Norway and by November 2016 had collected a total of 71 caps, scoring 6 goals. He has represented his country in 25 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played at both the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup as well as at the 2005, 2007 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cups.

In May 2018 he was named in Costa Rica's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. By entering as a substitute in the first matchday defeat against Serbia, Bolaños became the only Costa Rican to play at three different FIFA World Cups, and overtook Michael Umaña as the Costa Rican with most matches played at the competition.

International

 * Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bolaños goal.

Honours
Saprissa
 * Primera División: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07
 * Costa Rican short championship: 2003–04 Apertura, 2005–06 Apertura, 2005–06 Clausura, 2006–07 Apertura, 2006–07 Clausura, 2015–16 Apertura, 2017–18 Clausura, 2019–20 Clausura, 2020–21 Clausura
 * FIFA Club World Cup third place: 2005
 * CONCACAF Champions League: 2005; runner-up: 2004
 * Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 2003; runner-up: 2007

Copenhagen
 * Danish Superliga: 2010–11, 2012–13
 * Danish Cup: 2011–12

Individual
 * FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball: 2005
 * CONCACAF Best XI: 2016