Joel Campbell Costa Rican Footballer From San José

Early life

Joel Nathaniel Campbell Samuels was born on 26 June 1992 in San José, Costa Rica. He played for Costa Rica's under-17 team from 2008 and began his club career with Deportivo Saprissa in 2009. In January 2011 he went on loan to Puntarenas. Later that year Arsenal scout Danny Karbassiyoon, who had found him, helped to bring him to the English club.

Career

In August 2011 Arsenal confirmed that they had signed him, but he could not obtain a work permit to play in England, which he finally received in July 2013. Instead he spent several seasons on loan. He joined the French side Lorient in 2011, scoring his first goal for the club against Valenciennes on 1 October and later scoring twice against Montpellier. In July 2012 he moved to Real Betis for a season, playing 28 league matches and scoring twice, in games against Deportivo de La Coruña and Levante. In the summer of 2013 he went to Olympiacos on another one-year loan. There he scored in a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the Champions League round of 16 in February 2014, and the club won the Greek league in 2013-14. He also made four assists in a 5-1 win over OFI.

Manager Arsène Wenger included him in Arsenal's first-team plans for 2014-15. Campbell scored in the Emirates Cup against Benfica, came on as a substitute in the 2014 FA Community Shield win over Manchester City and made his Premier League debut on 23 August 2014 against Everton. In January 2015 he joined Villarreal on loan, and on 10 May he scored the only goal against Elche, a result that secured sixth place in La Liga and a Europa League spot.

Back at Arsenal for 2015-16, Campbell scored his first Premier League goal on 31 October 2015 in a 3-0 win at Swansea City, his first Premier League start. He added his first goal at the Emirates against Sunderland on 6 December and scored against the same club in the FA Cup in January 2016. He then asked for another loan and in August 2016 joined Sporting CP, where he played alongside his countryman Bryan Ruiz. When Sporting were drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Campbell, Ruiz and Real's Keylor Navas were set to take part in the first Champions League match with three Costa Rican players. In August 2017 he joined Real Betis on loan for a second time.

In August 2018 he signed a three-year contract with Frosinone of Italy. In January 2019 he was loaned to Club León for 18 months, and he went on loan to Monterrey in 2021. He has also played in his home country for Alajuelense and Inter de San Carlos.

International career

Campbell was part of Costa Rica's squad at the 2009 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, in which he was the team's highest scorer with two goals, and he took part in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. At the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship he shared the top-scorer award with six goals. He received his first senior call-up in March 2011, for friendlies against China and Argentina. National team manager Ricardo La Volpe has said he first noticed Campbell juggling cans on the streets of San José.

At the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup he scored in the group opener, a 5-0 win over Cuba, and he scored his penalty in the shoot-out against Honduras in the quarter-finals. He started every game when Costa Rica played in the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, scoring against Bolivia. On 14 June 2014 he scored Costa Rica's first goal at the World Cup, an equaliser against Uruguay in a 3-1 win, and he converted a penalty in the round of 16 shoot-out victory over Greece. Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals that year. He was named in the squads for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and he has played in the Gold Cup several times, reaching the semi-finals in 2017 and the quarter-finals in 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023. He has made more than 140 appearances for the national team.

Recognition

With Costa Rica, Campbell won the Copa Centroamericana in 2014. At club level he has a FA Community Shield winner's medal from 2014 with Arsenal, a Greek league title with Olympiacos in 2013-14, the Liga MX Guardianes 2020 title with León and the CONCACAF Champions League in 2023 with León. He also won the CONCACAF Central American Cup in 2023 with Alajuelense. Individually he was top scorer at the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, was in the Super League Greece Team of the Season for 2013-14 and was named in the CONCACAF Best XI for 2015.