Marco Ureña

Marco Ureña was born on March 5, 1990 in San Jose, Costa Rica. He currently plays as a striker for FC Kuban Krasnodar.

Marco started his professional career with Alajuelense and on February 21, 2007 made his Premier Division debut in the match against Municipal Pérez Zeledón. In his first season for Alajuelense Ureña made 9 appearances, scored 1 goal and became the runner-up of the Clausura 2008 together with the squad. In the Apertura 2008 he scored 1 goal in 12 games and won the vice-champion’s title. In the 2010/11 season he made 25 appearances and scored 4 goals thereby making a valuable contribution to his team’s becoming the Invierno 2010 champion.

In March 2011 Marco Ureña signed for FC Kuban Krasnodar. On April 9, 2011 he made his Russian Premier League debut in an away game against FC Dynamo Moscow, coming on as a substitute on the 79th minute of the match.

As an international player Marco passed through the U-17 and U-20 Costa-Rica national football teams, for which he took part in the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup and 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup respectively. In 2009 the striker was capped for the main national team for the first time. In 2011 he was the part of his country’s team for the Copa Centroameriana and reached the final of the tournament, scoring the only Costa Rican goal on the 73rd minute of the match that ended in a 2-1 victory for Honduras. Still, Ureña’s performance did not pass unheeded and Marco, alongside with Rafael Burgos, a Salvadoran forward, was awarded the Copa Centroamericana Golden Boot. In 2011 the player was called up to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup where he scored a brace in the very first group stage match against Kuba and besides put the ball into the net of Mexico in the last game in the Group A.