Israel López Hernández (born 29 September 1974) is a Mexican former 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 played as 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 ...

Club career

Initially a right fullback who converted to the midfield during the prime years of his career, López made his debut at age 19 with

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

in 1993.MedioTiempo
"Israel López - Gallos Blancos."
Retrieved on January 15, 2013. By the following year he was a starter in defense alongside players such as

Claudio Suárez Claudio Suárez Sánchez (; born 17 December 1968) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Nicknamed ''El Emperador'' (The Emperor). Club career Born in Texcoco, State of Mexico and nicknamed ''El Emperador'' ...

and went on to make 238 appearances for the club, but the middle and late 1990s were generally disappointing for Pumas. In 2001, he moved to Chivas and then joined

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

in 2002. There he spent the most productive seasons of his career, moving into a three-man central midfield that also included Rafael García and playmaker

Antonio Naelson Antônio Naelson Matias (born 23 May 1976), known as Sinha or Zinha, is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. Born in Brazil, he represented the Mexico nati ...

. In his first season at the club, Toluca won the Apertura 2002 championship, and López scored in the final against Monarcas Morelia. He served as team captain in 2004 and won another championship in the Apertura 2005 campaign. In the following season López, a frequent scorer from free kicks, scored a career-high 6 goals. He joined

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

in 2006 before returning to Toluca for the Clausura 2008 season; he won the Apertura 2008 title, his third, with Toluca, but by now played less frequently. López departed Toluca in 2010 and spent his last top-flight seasons with Cruz Azul,

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March 3 Stadium, named for ...

, and

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

International career

López also earned 26 caps for the

Mexico national team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...

. His first international match came on June 4, 2000, against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the

U.S. Cup U.S. Cup (also known as the USA Cup, United States Cup and Nike U.S. Cup) was a soccer competition held annually in the United States from 1992 to 2000, except for the World Cup years of 1994 and 1998. The tournament, hosted by the United States ...

, playing in a squad filled mostly with fellow Pumas players. He returned to the team in 2003 on the strength of his performances with Toluca, appearing in four of Mexico's qualifying matches for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. López was on the preliminary list of players nominated for the World Cup squad, but he was one of three final cuts announced by coach

Ricardo Antonio Lavolpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

before the tournament. His final international match came against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

in a 4–2 victory in Oakland, California on March 28, 2007. He was part of the Mexico 2004 Olympic football team as an overage player that was eliminated in the first round, having finished third in group A behind group winners

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Israel 1974 births Living people Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Mexico Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Liga MX players Club Universidad Nacional footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Cruz Azul footballers Club Necaxa footballers Tecos F.C. footballers Querétaro F.C. footballers Men's association football midfielders