Anthony Rubén Lozano Colón (born 25 April 1993), also known as Choco, is a Honduran professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who plays as a
forward for
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
club
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
and the
Honduras national team.
Club career
Born in
Yoro
Yoro, with a population of 25,560 (2020 calculation), is the capital city of the Yoro Department of Honduras and the municipal seat of Yoro Municipality. It is notable for a local event known as Lluvia de Peces, where it is claimed that strong ...
, Lozano made his debut in the
Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras
Liga Betcris de Honduras (''Honduran National Professional Football League'') is the highest division of football in Honduras. The league season is divided into Opening (autumn) and Closing (spring). One team is relegated to the Liga de Ascenso ...
at the age of only 15, appearing for
C.D. Olimpia against
Club Deportivo y Social Vida on 11 January 2009. On 21 February 2010 he scored his first goals, netting a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
in the
Clausura tournament 6–0 win over
C.D. Victoria
Club Deportivo Victoria is a Honduran football club based in La Ceiba, Atlántida. They have enjoyed success in the past having won the Honduran first division once. They currently play in the Honduran first division.
History
Club Deportivo ...
.
In August 2010, Lozano spent time training with
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
's
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...
, impressing manager
Harry Redknapp. He was expected to stay with the
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
side, but the deal never went through because he was underage and, therefore, could not sign a contract with a professional club.
On 11 August 2011, Lozano moved to Spain and signed with
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...
on a one-year loan, but was immediately loaned to
CD Alcoyano
Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1928 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games in '' Estadio El Collao'', with a 4,850-sea ...
in
the same community, in
Segunda División. He made his official debut against
UD Las Palmas
Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...
on 3 September, as a second-half
substitute (1–0 away loss).
Lozano spent the
2012–13 season with
Valencia's reserves, in
Segunda División B. After being released, he returned to his first club Olimpia.
Lozano was Olimpia's top scorer in the
2014–15 campaign, contributing 26 goals in 38 matches. On 6 August 2015, he returned to Spain and its second division after agreeing to a one-year loan deal with
CD Tenerife
Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...
, which was extended on 9 July of the following year; he was awarded the
Player of the Month award for May, after helping his team reach
the play-offs.
On 7 July 2017, an agreement between
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Found ...
and Olimpia for Lozano was confirmed by the latter club's vice president Osman Madrid, which saw the player become the first Honduran to represent the
Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citize ...
. He was assigned to
their reserves in division two, and in the first game of
the season, he scored once and provided an
assist
Assist or ASSIST may refer to:
Sports
Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team:
*Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...
against
Real Valladolid
Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system.
The club c ...
(2–1, away).
On 30 January 2018, Lozano joined
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
side
Girona FC for a fee of €1.7 million. He made his debut in the competition 12 days later, featuring 21 minutes in the 1–0 away loss to
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...
, and scored his first goal on 3 March – also from the bench – to help the visitors defeat
Villarreal CF
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...
2–0.
Lozano was given a direct
red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction.
Red card may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers
* Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...
late into the 2–1 home win over
Rayo Vallecano
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...
on 27 October 2018, after tackling
Santi Comesaña from behind. He scored the equaliser against
Atlético Madrid the following 9 January, cancelling out
Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann (; born 21 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, Griezmann is known for his attacking, passing, and supporti ...
's earlier goal in a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...
round of 16
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
tie at the
Estadi Montilivi
Estadi Montilivi is a multi-use stadium in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home ground of Girona FC. It was built and opened in 1970.
After their first ever promotion to La Liga, Girona expanded ...
; it was his second competitive goal for the club, after failing to the find the net for almost a year. He once again scored in the cup when Girona faced
Real Madrid in
the quarter-finals, in the process becoming the fourth player from his country to achieve the feat against that opposition.
On 1 September 2019, Lozano was loaned to
Cádiz CF of the Spanish second tier for one year. He scored his first goal for the team late in the same month, in a 2–1 away win against
UD Almería
Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...
. He added a further nine until the end of
the campaign – second-best in the squad behind
Álex Fernández's 13 – as his team returned to the top flight after 14 years.
Cádiz exercised their option to buy on 22 July 2020, and Lozano signed a permanent three-year contract. On 17 October, he scored the only goal in a victory over Real Madrid at the
Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, the first ever away against that adversary.
Lozano scored his first hat-trick in the Spanish first division on 26 October 2021, in a 3–3 draw at Villarreal.
International career
Lozano scored 11 goals for the
Honduras under-17s, including four in the
2009 CONCACAF Championship which qualified the national team to
that year's
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...
, where he netted in the 3–1 loss against
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He made his
senior debut in August 2011, coming on as a
substitute for
Carlo Costly
Carlo Yaír Costly Molina (; born 18 July 1982) is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga de Ascenso club Lone FC.
Prior to moving to Europe, he played with Platense, where he was the top scorer of the Honduras A ...
(who scored both goals in the 2–0 win) in a
friendly win over
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
Lozano also represented the country at the
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
and
2016 Summer Olympics. He scored twice in
the latter tournament, helping
the nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
to the semi-finals in Brazil.
Personal life
Lozano's half-brother,
Luis Ramos, is also a footballer. A
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
, he played several years in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. His style was compared to compatriot Costly.
Lozano married Alessa Gámez, with the couple later welcoming a daughter.
Career statistics
Club
International
[
:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lozano goal.''
]
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lozano, Anthony
1993 births
Living people
People from Yoro Department
Honduran footballers
Association football forwards
Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players
C.D. Olimpia players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
CD Alcoyano footballers
Valencia CF Mestalla footballers
CD Tenerife players
FC Barcelona Atlètic players
Girona FC players
Cádiz CF players
Honduras youth international footballers
Honduras under-20 international footballers
Honduras international footballers
2014 Copa Centroamericana players
2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
2009 CONCACAF U-20 Championship players
Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic footballers of Honduras
Honduran expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Spain