Nicolás "Nico" Federico López Alonso (born 1 October 1993), also known as "''El Diente''," is a Uruguayan 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 ...

who plays as a forward for Liga MX club

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

Club career

Early career

Nicknamed "''El Conejo''" (The Rabbit) or "''El Diente''" (The Tooth), López started his playing career with

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

, but was originally rejected after he was deemed not to be physically strong enough to play professionally. He successively joined the

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 ...

youth academy, where he turned into a very prolific striker and, more occasionally, left winger. On 24 April 2011, after being born as part of the first team under head coach

Juan Ramón Carrasco Juan Ramón Carrasco Torres (born 15 September 1956) is a Uruguayan football coach and former player. He is one of the players who had the most appearances, in different rosters, in Uruguay. Playing career Born in Sarandi del Yí, Uruguay, Ca ...

, López made his debut at the age of 17 in a league game against

Central Español Central Español Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Central Español is a Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo. History The F.U.F era Together with Peñarol, Central founded FUF (Uruguayan football federation) in 1923 after being expel ...

, promptly scoring also his first senior goal. In August 2011, he was involved in a feud with Nacional, after his father revealed the player was in Italy in order to hold talks with a number of unspecified Serie A sides, leading his Uruguayan club and the national federation to consider potential actions to the FIFA against the player. López ended his Nacional career with 3 goals in 6 games in all competitions.

Roma

López was acquired by

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

in the January 2012 transfer window, and then included in the ''Primavera'' under-19 squad for the rest of the season, scoring 15 times in 12 youth games. López was taken into consideration as a first team player by new head coach Zdeněk Zeman, who included him in the senior roster for the pre-season camp and then featured him in a number of friendly games. López made his first team debut on 26 August 2012, replacing captain

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional footballer who played solely for Roma and the Italy national team. He is often referred to as ''Er Bimbo de Oro'' (The Golden Boy), ''L'Ottavo Re di Roma'' (The Eig ...

in the final minutes of the first game of the Serie A season, a home match versus Catania, and promptly scored an injury time equaliser (the game ended 2–2). He also started the round of 16

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

match against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

. Lopez played 7 times, scoring once in his first season in the Roma first team.

Udinese

On 13 July 2013, he joined

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

with

Valerio Verre Valerio Verre (born 11 January 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Sampdoria. Club career Roma, Genoa & Siena As a graduate of reserve team, Verre signed a five-year contract in May 2012. On ...

Internacional

On July 19, 2016, Brazilian club

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

announced that signed with Nico López. Colorado paid €4 million for 50% of Uruguayan footballer's rights.

Tigres UANL

In December 2019, López was transferred to

, the Mexican club paid a $10 million fee. He was the top goalscorer of the Liga MX's Apertura 2021 season.

International career

López has represented

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

at Under-20 level, scoring 10 goals in his 16 caps. He played at the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

, earning the Silver Ball award after scoring four goals. On 21 October 2022, López was named in Uruguay's 55-man preliminary squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Nacional *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

UANL * CONCACAF Champions League:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Individual * Liga MX Best XI: Apertura 2021 * Liga MX Golden Boot (Shared): Apertura 2021

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Nicolas 1993 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan footballers Association football forwards Uruguayan Primera División players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Liga MX players Club Nacional de Football players Sport Club Internacional players Tigres UANL footballers Serie A players A.S. Roma players Udinese Calcio players Hellas Verona F.C. players La Liga players Granada CF footballers Uruguay under-20 international footballers Uruguayan expatriate footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Brazil Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil