Javier 'Javi' López Rodríguez (; born 21 January 1986) 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 full-back or

central 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 ...

for Australian club

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to f ...

. He spent the vast majority of his professional career with

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, having signed in 2007. During his spell, he appeared in 283 competitive matches.

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

Osuna Osuna () is a town and municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. , it has a population of c. 17,800. It is the location of the Andalusian Social Economy School. Among famous people associ ...

Province of Seville The Province of Seville ( es, Sevilla) is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and C ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, and a product of

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

' youth ranks, López signed with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in 2007. On 4 October 2009, he made his debut for the first team of the latter club in a

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 ...

match against

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, th ...

, taking the pitch with less than ten minutes to go as the ten-man side eventually held off the hosts to a 0–0 draw. The vast majority of his first season was spent, however, with the reserves, which suffered relegation from the

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 ...

. López was definitely promoted to the main squad for the 2010–11 campaign, being used by manager

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

in various midfield and defender positions. He scored his first goal as a professional on 18 September 2011, but in a 2–1 away loss to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

where he was also

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for two bookable offences, one of them resulting in a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. On 29 March 2014, after

Kiko Casilla Francisco "Kiko" Casilla Cortés (; born 2 October 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Getafe CF. He started playing for Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, ...

was sent off late in the home fixture against

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 ...

and his team had no replacements left, López played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He conceded no goals, in a 1–0 defeat. He extended his contract for two more years in March 2017, and earned an automatic extension to that deal due to playing the majority of games at the age of 33. On 21 July 2020, López signed a new deal after Espanyol's relegation. A month later, he terminated it.

Adelaide United

López joined

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

on 25 November 2020, on a one-year deal. He was persuaded to join the team by compatriot

Isaías Sánchez Isaías Sánchez Cortés (; born 9 February 1987), known simply as Isaías, is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Australian club Adelaide United. He spent most of his career in Australia with Adelaide United after ...

. In June 2021, López and fellow Spaniard

Juande Juan de Dios Prados López (born 12 August 1986), known as Juande, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Australian club Adelaide United FC. Formed at Betis, he totalled 80 games and three goals for the ...

signed new deals to stay in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

for the following season. He scored his first goal for Adelaide on 1 January in a 4–0 win over

Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from Adelaide-based company Coopers Brewery) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hindmarsh, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Austral ...

. After contributing to a fourth-place finish and post-season semi-final, he was named as a substitute in the league's team of the year at the

PFA Footballer of the Year Awards The PFA Footballer of the Year Awards (or the Professional Football Association Footballer of the Year Awards) is an annual award ceremony created to formally recognise the most outstanding Australian soccer players playing abroad or in the A-L ...

, and his contract was extended for another year.

Honours

Individual * PFA A-League Men Team of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

Espanyol official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Javi 1986 births Living people People from Osuna Sportspeople from the Province of Seville Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers A-League Men players Adelaide United FC players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia