Danny da Costa

Early career

With his club having already advanced to the knockout stage of the Europa League, the 17-year-old da Costa made his Leverkusen debut as a second-half substitute against Atlético Madrid, coming on for Gonzalo Castro. da Costa made his Bundesliga debut on 24 September 2011, facing off against Bayern Munich and the manager who gave him his debut, Jupp Heynckes. da Costa would go on to make 6 appearances in the Bundesliga, as well as one in the Champions League, coming against Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stage..

FC Ingolstadt

In the offseason, da Costa secured a move to 2. Bundesliga side FC Ingolstadt, initially on a two-year loan. da Costa made his club debut on 3 August 2012 against Energie Cottbus, and started the first two games of the season at right-back before being supplanted by Andreas Görlitz. da Costa made his return on match day 7, coming on as a substitute against 1860 Munich. This led to a run of 13 consecutive starts for Ingolstadt, and da Costa finished the season having started 26 of their 34 games with his club finishing in the middle of the table. da Costa also made 26 starts in the 2013–14 season. On 31 October 2014, in a match between the table leaders at the time, Ingolstadt and Fortuna Düsseldorf, da Costa suffered a leg injury in a collision with Lukas Schmitz, and had to be stretchered off. The injury was severe − a fractured tibia − and put his career in jeopardy. da Costa made his competitive return in…

Da Costa has represented Germany at U17 making 11 appearances, U18 making six appearances and currently six appearances at U19 level. In July 2014 he was asked to switch his international allegiance to Angola. After missing the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship due to injury, da Costa was included in the provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. However, da Costa did not make the final squad as Germany finished runners-up in the competition.

As of match played 6 September 2026

Da Costa is the son of an Angolan father and a Congolese mother, he lives with his family in Leverkusen district Opladen.