Bryan Ruiz

L.D. Alajuelense

He began his professional career at 18, making his debut for Liga Deportiva Alajuelense on 30 November 2003 against Municipal Perez Zeledon, in Costa Rica's top division. He formed a trio with 2 strikers, Rolando Fonseca and Froylan Ledezma, where he built a reputation as a goalscorer and a play maker. He scored his first goal on 23 December 2003 against Ramonense, netting twice against Fernando Patterson. In Alajuelense, Bryan was nicknamed in jest "la comadreja" (the weasel), for his facial profile. He was on the team when it won regional titles such as the UNCAF Cup and the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

AA Gent

In the summer of 2006, Ruiz was signed by Gent in a four-year deal along with Randall Azofeifa from Deportivo Saprissa and Roy Myrie from Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.

He scored his first hat trick playing for Gent on 8 December 2007 against Lokeren. In that season in the Belgian League, he was the captain and top scorer for the team.

FC Twente

On 15 July 2009, the Dutch club FC Twente announced that they had signed Ruiz for around five million Euro and agreed to receive a percentage of a subsequent transfer. Ruiz signed a 4-year deal with the Eredivisie side. Ruiz made his debut for the new club by scoring the second goal of the match, with an assist from another newcomer, Miroslav Stoch. Ruiz's goal against NAC Breda on 12 December 2009 marked the 10th consecutive match in which he had scored. On 27 March 2010, Ruiz made one of the quickest hat tricks ever against Sparta Rotterdam, with goals in the 46th, 49th and 50th minutes.

On 2 May 2010, FC Twente were crowned champions of Eredivisie for the first time in their history, with a 2–0 win at NAC Breda; Ruiz scored the first goal of the match during the 23rd minute of play. Ruiz finished the season as top scorer for Twente with 24 goals in Eredivisie play. In August 2011, Ruiz was being watched by scouts from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, however on 18 August 2011 Ruiz claimed that Fulham was in talks with him. Ruiz stated to a local source "Fulham is a serious option for me. "That is also a Premier League side and it is a fantastic league. "Fulham already contacted my agent. If Fulham does become serious, we will definitely talk."

Fulham

On 31 August 2011, the last day of the Premier League summer transfer window, Fulham announced signing Ruiz for an undisclosed fee. His debut was on Sunday, 11 September 2011 at home to Blackburn Rovers and he scored his first goal for Fulham in a 3–1 home defeat against Everton on 23 October 2011.

In the fixture against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium on 7 April 2012, Ruiz broke a bone in his foot, leading to a stretcher taking him off and him needing an operation, which sidelined him for 10 weeks.

On 18 August 2012, Ruiz started Fulham's first Premier League game of the season, a 5–0 win against Norwich and assisted Mladen Petric in scoring his second goal in his debut match. He finished the 2012–2013 season making 31 first-team appearances and scoring five goals.

PSV (loan)

Ruiz joined Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven on 15 January 2014, on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 19 January 2014 in a 1–0 loss to Ajax and scored his first goal for the club on 14 February with a 63rd-minute winner against Heracles Almelo.

Sporting CP

On 7 July 2015, Ruiz joined Sporting CP on three-year contract. He got his first assist with the club against Pacos, in a game that ended in a 1-1 draw.

International career

Ruiz made his debut for Costa Rica against China on 19 June 2005.

He has represented the Ticos at the 2005 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cups. His first international goal came against Honduras in the 2005 tournament.

Ruiz scored six times during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, as Costa Rica was knocked out by Uruguay in the intercontinental play-off. In the 2014 qualifiers, he scored three goals to lead the team to the FIFA World Cup quarter finals.

In June 2014, Ruiz was named in Costa Rica's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In the team's opening match, he captained Los Ticos to a 3–1 defeat of Uruguay in Fortaleza. On 20 June, Ruiz scored the only goal as Costa Rica upset four-time champion Italy 1–0 to qualify for the round of 16, where he again scored his team's goal as they drew 1–1 with Greece. Ruiz later successfully converted his kick as Costa Rica prevailed 5–3 in the penalty shootout. In the quarter-final against the Netherlands, Ruiz was one of two Costa Ricans to have his kick saved by Tim Krul in a 4–3 penalty shootout defeat.

Honours

L.D. Alajuelense

AA Gent

FC Twente

Sporting CP

Costa Rica

Individual

Personal life

Bryan has two brothers, Yendrick, who is also a football player. The brothers were teammates in Alajuelense for a period of two weeks before Bryan signed for Gent, and did not play a match together until 14 August 2013, when both played for the Costa Rica national team in a friendly against Dominican Republic Cristian,24,is his half brother from his fathers side who lives in Florida as a chef.

Bryan worked as a columnist for Costa Rican sports newspaper Al Dia from 2011 until the journal ceasing in 2014.