Wilmer López Arguedas (born 3 August 1971) is a retired

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

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 ...

. He played for

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

and is one of the club's biggest idols of all time.

Club career

López made his debut in the Costa Rican Primera División on 5 January 1992 playing with Carmelita against ASODELI also scoring his first league goal in that match.Trayectoria de Wílmer López
- Nación The following next season, he was bought by

, becoming one of the most beloved players and a crowd favorite, playing 13 seasons and winning 7 Costa Rican Championships, 3

Copa Interclubes UNCAF The UNCAF Club Tournament was an annual international football competition held in the UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each national league qualified automat ...

championships and 1

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

, being part of the team that won 4 national championships in a row (1999–2000–2002–2003). He was named the best player of the national tournament for two seasons in a row before moving to

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 wo ...

in Colombia, whom he left very soon due to contractual problems, and again during another season, when he returned to Costa Rica. He also played the

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited in ...

and the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

. Nicknamed ''El Pato'' (The Duck), the

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 ...

also played for Pérez Zeledón. He is also known as ''El Ingeniero'' (The Engineer) due to his amazing ability to create plays with short and long passes and also for his fast thinking that made him one of the best midfielders in the region during the '90s and the early 2000s. After 2003, he suffered multiple injuries that made him lose a lot of games and he never regained his earlier abilities as a player, although he was still loved by the crowd and gave a few good games along the road to the end of the 2007 season when his contract expired and the team decided not to hire him again. It was a very sad day for all the

's fans. Every time Pérez Zeledón played at the

Alejandro Morera Soto Alejandro Morera Soto (July 14, 1909 – March 26, 1995) was a Costa Rican football player, who played as a striker mostly for Alajuelense in the Costa Rican Primera División. He is considered one of the best and most talented players of ...

stadium, his former fans waited for him singingRegalo para Pato López
- Nación and clapping every time he touched the ball, letting him know he still was in their hearts. López totalled 478 league matches and 80 goals for ''Liga''. He also played 92 international club games for them. He played 550 league games in total.

International career

López made his debut for

in an August 1995

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

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and earned a total of 76 caps, scoring 6 goals. He represented his country in 22

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 played in all 3 games during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

held in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and Japan. He also played at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

1997 UNCAF Nations Cup This page details the 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup, played in Guatemala. Squads :For a complete list of all participating squads see '' UNCAF Nations Cup 1997 squads'' Preliminary round Venue First round Group A ---- ---- Group B ---- ...

s as well as at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the association football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one c ...

s and the

1997 Copa América Bolivia hosted the Copa América for the second time in its 38th edition. It was held from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. There is no qualifying for the final tournament. All South American ...

. He also was a non-playing squad member at the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil national football team, Brazil ...

. His final international was a July

match against 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Retirement

On Wednesday 22 July 2009, López played his retirement match with

against a team of friends that he picked himself. He played the first half with his friends and the second half with

to finish the match defending the colors that he loves. "El Pato" was one of the most loved players in

, along with his devotion to "La 12", the official group of Fans. They became more notorious on the day of his retirement, when all the fans jumped into the field to carry him on their shoulders for almost an hour.

Personal life

López is married to Alejandra López and the couple has two sons and a daughter. For a brief period in 2014, her daughter dated the Costa Rican celebrity Andrés ''Nando'' Sibaja.Campamento tico En familia
- Nación

References

External links

*

- Nación {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Wilmer 1971 births Living people People from Alajuela Association football midfielders Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers 1997 Copa América players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 Copa América players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players A.D. Carmelita footballers L.D. Alajuelense footballers Deportes Tolima footballers Costa Rican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Colombia Copa Centroamericana-winning players Costa Rican football managers Liga FPD players