Jewison Francisco Bennette Villegas (born 15 June 2004) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Ukrainian Premier League side LNZ Cherkasy and the Costa Rica national team.
Born in Heredia, Bennette started his career at Herediano. He made his senior debut on 1 August 2021 in a 3âÂÂ2 defeat to Jicaral, and scored the first goal of the match after four minutes.
In August 2022, EFL Championship side Sunderland announced they had signed Bennette to a four-year deal. He made his debut for his new club on 14 September, replacing Corry Evans as a substitute against Reading. In his second match for Sunderland against Watford, he scored his first goal.
On 30 January 2024, Bennette joined Super League Greece club Aris Thessaloniki on loan for the remainder of the season.
On 9 March 2025, Bennette signed for Ukrainian Premier League side LNZ Cherkasy for an undisclosed fee.
Bennette played for the Costa Rica under-15 team in 2019. He trained with the Costa Rica national team in summer 2021 ahead of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and made his senior international debut for Costa Rica in a 0âÂÂ0 draw against El Salvador on 21 August 2021, believing in the sports environment as the youngest player to represent Costa Rica internationally, at 17 years and 2 months. Some time later it is demonstrated that he is not the youngest player to debut with the senior national team, since in 1938 the forward José Luis "Chime" Rojas debuted against El Salvador for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama City (score 7-0), and on that day this Costa Rican forward was 16 years, 8 months and 25 days old.
Bennette played in Costa Rica's 2022 World Cup qualification fixtures against Canada and Honduras in November 2021, becoming Costa Rica's youngest player to feature in World Cup qualifying. Bennette became crucial for the team, as he assisted Joel Campbell to score the lone goal at the play-off match against New Zealand to seal Costa Rica's spot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 23 September, he scored his first two international goals in a friendly against South Korea. On 3 November 2022, Bennette was named in Costa Rica's 26 player squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Bennette started in Costa Rica's opening 7âÂÂ0 defeat against Spain, and came off the substitutes bench in their 1âÂÂ0 victory over Japan as well as their 4âÂÂ2 defeat over Germany as Costa Rica finished fourth in Group E.
His father, Jewisson Bennette, also played as a footballer for Herediano and the Costa Rica national team, as did his uncle Try Bennett. He is the older brother of twins Nick and Mike.
Herediano