Bryan Giovanni Róchez Mejía (born 1 January 1995) 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 le ...

who plays as a striker for

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

club

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

, on loan from

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

, and the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Honduras) represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras (FENAFUTH). They are nicknamed ...

Club career

Real España

Born in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

and raised in Tornabé, Róchez joined

Real España Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

at a young age. After progressing through the club's youth system, he made his senior debut in 2012. His first Liga Nacional appearance for the club came on 13 October 2012, in a 1–1 draw at home against

Deportes Savio Deportes Savio Fútbol Club, commonly known as Deportes Savio, is a professional Association football in Honduras, Honduran football club based in Santa Rosa de Copán. The club was founded in 1974, and participates in the Liga Nacional de Fútb ...

in the Apertura tournament; He played as a starter and was replaced by Allan Lalín in the 53rd minute. He scored his first goal on 24 March 2013, the equalizer in a 1–1 draw against Marathón in the Sampedran Derby. By the end of the 2013–14 season, Róchez had scored 20 goals for Real España to finish as the second highest goalscorer in the league, a campaign that saw Real España crowned as the Apertura champions.

Orlando City

On 15 December 2014,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

expansion Expansion may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine * ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004 * ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970 * ''Expansio ...

side Orlando City announced the signing of Róchez as a

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

, making him one of the youngest Designated Players in MLS history at only 19 years old. He made his MLS debut on 8 March 2015, a 1–1 home draw against fellow newcomers

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He entered as a second-half substitute in the 80th minute in place of Lewis Neal. Róchez scored his first goal for ''The Lions'' on the following 13 September, in a 3–1 win against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

. He was loaned to

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...

in March 2016. He made his debut on 26 March in Orlando's opening game against

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. History ...

in the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

. He came on as a second-half substitute for

Richie Laryea Richmond Mamah Laryea ( ; Ga: ; born January 7, 1995) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a right-back or midfielder for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, on loan from Premier League club Nottingham Forest, and the Canada ...

, playing 20 minutes in a 2–1 loss. He scored his first goal on 26 April in a 2–1 loss against

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soccer ...

Loan return to Real España

On 22 July 2016, Róchez returned to Real España on loan after having not made a single appearance for Orlando City during the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. He played his first game on 10 August in a 1–0 loss against Olimpia in the league. 18 days later, he scored his first goal since his return as Real España defeated Honduras Progreso 4–1.

Atlanta United

On 17 March 2017, Róchez was

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United St ...

by Orlando City. However, Róchez was quickly claimed by new expansion side

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

Nacional

On 22 August 2017, Róchez left Atlanta United and joined Portuguese

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

club

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

. He made his debut the following 24 September in a 3–1 away victory against Condeixa in the second round of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

. He made his league debut on 1 October in the 5–4 away defeat to Braga B, he also scored his first goal and Nacional's third. On 29 December 2021, Róchez scored 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 Nacional's 4–1 home win against Académico de Viseu, in the process becoming the top scorer in the history of the club.

Portimonense

On 13 July 2022,

club

presented the signing of Róchez in a press conference. He made his debut for the club on 27 August, coming on as an extra-time substitute on a 1–0 win away at Marítimo. On 5 May 2023, Róchez scored his first goal for Portimonense, a last-minute equalizer on a 1–1 away draw at

Casa Pia :''This article refers to the institution. For the child abuse scandal, see Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal.'' The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendan ...

Loan to União de Leiria

On 24 July 2023,

, recently promoted to

, announced the signing of Róchez from Portimonense on a season-long loan.

International career

Róchez made his senior national team debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

on 17 November 2014 in a friendly against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, starting in a 0–0 draw. In April 2015, he was called up to represent Honduras in the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. On 1 June, he scored a brace in the first group stage match of the tournament against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

in an eventual 4–3 win. He would feature in all three group stage matches as Honduras were eliminated in the first round.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Róchez goal.''

Honours

Real España *

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 ...

: 2013 Apertura Nacional *

: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochez, Bryan 1995 births Living people Footballers from Tegucigalpa Honduran men's footballers Men's association football forwards Real C.D. España players Orlando City SC players Orlando City B players C.D. Nacional players Portimonense S.C. players U.D. Leiria players Honduras men's international footballers Designated Players (MLS) Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Honduran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Honduran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Central American Games gold medalists for Honduras Central American Games medalists in football