Borja López Menéndez (; born 2 February 1994) is a Spanish 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Belgian club

S.V. Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

. He had two spells with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

, totalling 81 games and two goals in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

as well as making three appearances for

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 Lig ...

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's ...

, and one for

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on their way to winning 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 footbal ...

in 2016–17. Abroad, he featured in a lone

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

match for

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

while also playing in Croatia and Belgium.

Club career

Sporting Gijón

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

, López was a

youth graduate. On 18 December 2011 he made his senior debut for the

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, against

Getafe CF B Getafe Club de Fútbol "B" is the reserve team of Getafe CF, club based in Getafe, Madrid metropolitan area, in the namesake community. Founded in 1983, it currently plays in Tercera Federación – Group 7 holding home games at '' Ciudad Deportiv ...

, and he went on to play one more

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

match during the season, against

UB Conquense UB or Ub may refer to: Organizations *Basel University Library, german: Bibliothek der Universität Basel, abbreviated UB. * UltimateBet, a defunct online poker site * Ungermann-Bass, a computer networking company in California *United Biscuits, ...

. López made his first-team debut on 1 November 2012, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win over

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El Sa ...

in the

round of 32 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 ...

of the

. He made his

debut on the 16th, again starting but in a 2–3 home loss to

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

. On 31 January 2013, López was promoted to the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

' main squad alongside Luis Hernández.

Monaco

On 2 August 2013, López signed a four-year contract with high-spending

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

for a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

2.2 million fee. He played three games for the

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

team, his sole in the league being 20 minutes as a substitute for Marcel Tisserand in a 2–2 draw at

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Frenc ...

on 20 October. López was loaned to

in late January 2014, until the end of the season. He made his debut in the competition on 29 March, starting the 5–0 defeat at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. On 29 January 2015, López moved to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

on loan until June. On 4 July, in the same situation, he joined Portuguese

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

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Founde ...

Barcelona

On 29 January 2016, López joined

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. Founded ...

on a two-and-a-half-year deal, and was assigned to the reserves in the third division. His only official appearance for the main squad took place on 30 November, when he played the entire 1–1 away draw with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

in the domestic cup.

Later career

On 30 June 2017, López switched teams and countries again after signing for

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

in Croatia. On 6 August 2019, he returned to his first club Sporting on a free transfer. López agreed to a three-year contract at

of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

in June 2022. On 1 February 2024, after making no appearances in the first half of the campaign, he returned to Spain and its second tier with

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

, on loan.

Career statistics

Honours

Barcelona *

: 2016–17 Leganés *

: 2023–24

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Borja 1994 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gijón Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Rayo Vallecano players Deportivo de La Coruña players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players CD Leganés players Ligue 1 players AS Monaco FC players F.C. Arouca players Croatian Football League players HNK Hajduk Split players Belgian Pro League players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium