Luis Carlos "Matador" Tejada Hansell (born 28 March 1982) is a Panamanian 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, rugb ...

who plays as a striker for Molinos El Pirata.

Club career

Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side

Deportes Tolima Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Founded in 1954, the club has w ...

. Later on he was transferred to first division team Envigado in 2004, and after a splendid participation in the Gold Cup, he set off to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

. In 2005, he signed a 3-year contract to send him to

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

of the United Arab Emirates. However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

, and he returned to Panama. Returning to Panama, he participated in the championship of Clausura of ANAPROF with the Plaza Amador, one of the best teams of the local football league, but he only participated in a few matches. His conditioning was not optimal, and he acquired the nickname of "el gordito (fatty)". Growing into better form, he moved on to Colombia, where he played a short spell with ex

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

champions

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium. They were the surprise winne ...

, from which he was fired for disciplinary problems. He then returned to Panama to play for

Plaza Amador Plaza Amador is a Panamanian football club based in Panama City, that currently plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol. It is the oldest team in Panama. History C.D Plaza Amador was founded in 1955 by Panamanian sports legend León Cocoliso Tejada ...

. Real Salt Lake of

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 Cana ...

announced the signing of Tejada on 12 December 2006, for the 2007 season. He played only two minutes in five games, however, before he was released by head coach

Jason Kreis Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City ...

. He returned to Panamanian side Tauro, but did not play very much since he was shortly signed by

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

n side

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

. He scored 4 goals during his short stay in Panama. ''Matador'' scored only 3 goals in the '' Torneo Finalizacion 2007''; however, he became a key player for América in the next tournament. Tejada played 19 games in the '' Torneo Iniciacion 2008'' where he scored 12 goals, becoming América de Cali's top-scorer and the second in the tournament. Tejada reached the final where America lost to

Boyacá Chicó Boyacá is the name of a region in Colombia. It may refer to other connections to Colombia: * Battle of Boyacá * Boyacá Department (Gran Colombia) * Boyacá Department ** Boyacá, Boyacá, a municipality * Boyacá State Boyacá State was one ...

. He was nicknamed by the Colombian press as America's golden tooth (''el diente de oro del America'') because of his golden tooth. After the tournament, there was much interest for Tejada, including from Argentine side River Plate; however, nothing was concrete. Unfortunately for the ''Matador'' América could not pay his salary and price so he was sold to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

's side

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

where he debuted on 16 August 2008 in the ''Embajadores'' victory over Deportes Quindío. After an unsuccessful spell at

. Tejada returned once more to Tauro and afterwards moved to Peru to play for champions

Juan Aurich Club Juan Aurich S. A., commonly known as Juan Aurich, is a professional football club based in Chiclayo, Peru. The original Juan Aurich club was founded in 1922, this incarnation however was founded in 2005; they play in the Torneo Descentral ...

. At Juan Aurich, Tejada scored an impressive 48 goals in 65 games and attracted interest from teams in stronger leagues such as Mexico and Brazil. Tejada finally moved to Mexican side

Deportivo Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega is ...

in late 2012 as a replacement for the Uruguyan striker Iván Alonso. His spell at Toluca began promising after a late arrival, scoring 4 goals in 5 matches; however, his performance and consistency dropped for the liguilla, the Clausura 2013 and in the disappointing performance of Toluca at Copa Libertadores. In summer 2013 he joined

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. In December 2013, Tejada returned to Peru where he played with Juan Aurich for two years. He joined

Universidad César Vallejo Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

. On 1 March 2015, Tejada walked off the pitch during a match against Cienciano after being subjected to racist abuse from fans.

International career

Tejada made his debut for

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

in a June 2001

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and has, as of 1 August 2015, earned a total of 88 caps, scoring 40 goals and making him Panama's all-time record goalscorer just ahead of Blas Pérez. He represented his country in 24

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and in March 2005, Tejada scored a goal from an overhead kick against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

in a World Cup 2006 qualifying match that gave Panama a 1:1 tie against the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...

giants. This goal was voted the best goal of the year by Fox Sports. Tejada led Panama to the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean ( CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorio ...

final, where they finished as runners-up to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He scored three goals to end up as joint top scorer, but unfortunately, he missed his penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against the United States in the final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for his efforts. Tejada is currently the all-time leading scorer in Panama history. Tejada was ejected from the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi final against

after receiving a red card. In May 2018, he was named in Panama's 23-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army d ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first.''

Honours

Juan Aurich *

Peruvian First Division Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

Individual * CONCACAF Gold Cup MVP: 2005 * CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2005 *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

Top Goalscorer:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

References

External links