Juan Familia Castillo

Castillo was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he attended Bindelmeer College. He is of Dominican Republic descent. He began playing organised football with AVV Zeeburgia before joining the Ajax Youth Academy at nine years old. He came through the ranks at Ajax, attracting interest from Manchester United as a 14-year-old, before taking up a scholarship with United's Premier League rivals, Chelsea, in 2016.

Chelsea

In his first season, Castillo helped Chelsea U18 win the Professional Development League and was a member of their FA Youth Cup-winning side. He repeated that double in 2017–18, as well as playing regularly in Chelsea U19's 2017–18 UEFA Youth League campaign. He scored twice in a 4–2 win against Atlético Madrid in the group stage, converted his kick in the penalty shoot-out by which they beat Porto U19 in the semi-final, and played at left wing-back in the final, a 3–0 defeat to Barcelona. He again played regularly and scored twice in the 2018–19 edition: his goal against Montpellier helped Chelsea reach the quarter-final. Facing Porto in the final, he crossed for Daishawn Redan's header that tied the scores soon after half-time, and according to the football.london website, "showed a lot of energy and was probably the most threatening player for Chelsea" in the second half, but they lost 3–1. Promoted to the under-23 team, Castillo made his debut in open-age football in August 2017, as a 74th-minute replacement for Cole Dasilva in the 2017–18 EFL Trophy against Plymouth Argyle, who won the match on penalties. He appeared twice more in that season's competition, scored his first goal in the quarter-final against Oxford United, and made four appearances in the 2018–19 edition, scoring once. Castillo had signed his first professional contract with Chelsea on his 17th birthday, and ahead of the 2019–20 season, he signed for a further three years. On 16 June…

Though born in the Netherlands, Castillo plays international football for the Dominican Republic, for which he qualifies by descent. He was a regular for the Netherlands at youth levels from under-15 to under-20. Castillo made his first appearance in international football when he started for the Netherlands under-15 team in a 2–2 draw against their Belgian counterparts on 11 November 2014. He made eight appearances at that level. He played in 11 of the under-16s' 14 matches in the 2015–16 season, taking no part in the March 2016 friendlies. He first captained the side in a 1–0 loss to France U16 in October 2015, and scored with a penalty in a 2–1 loss to USA U17 in a tournament in December. At under-17 level, Castillo scored in all three of the Netherlands' matches – all wins – in the 2017 European Under-17 Championship qualifying round. He was a member of the squad for the championship finals in Croatia, and played in all four of their matches as they finished second in their group before being eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Germany U17. He scored three goals from ten matches at under-17 level, and played five times for the under-18s and scored twice, against Belgium and Italy. At under-19 level, he scored three goals from nine matches, of which six matches and two goals, against Wales and Slovenia, were in the UEFA Under-19 Championship qualifying and elite rounds, but a late defeat against Spain in the final qualifier meant his team failed to reach the…

As of match 28 March 2026