Édgar Antonio Méndez Ortega (born 2 January 1990) 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 ...

who plays as a

left winger 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 Liga MX club Necaxa. He achieved

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' ...

figures of 153 games and 16 goals over six seasons, with

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

, Granada and Alavés. He also played professionally in Mexico, mainly in service of

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 ...

Club career

Born in Arafo,

Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also Province of Santa Cruz ( es, link=no, Provincia de Santa Cruz de Tenerife), is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of abo ...

, Méndez finished his apprenticeship with Real Madrid and made his senior debut in the 2008–09 season with the C team, in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

. He upgraded to Segunda División B with CF Atlético Ciudad in summer 2009, and joined

Betis Deportivo Balompié Betis Deportivo Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1942, it is the reserve team of Real Betis and currently plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at Ciudad Depo ...

also in that league for the following campaign. Méndez signed for

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with a 8,000 c ...

still in the third tier in July 2011, and scored seven goals in his only season. In 2012 he moved to

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

, being assigned to the reserves. On 20 July 2013, Méndez joined

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

neighbours

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Jaén, Spain, Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in Tercera División RFEF, holding home matches at ''Nu ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

-long loan deal. He made his debut as a professional on 25 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–2 away defeat against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

in the Segunda División. On 28 January 2014, Méndez moved to

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

also in a temporary deal. He scored his first goal in the second division on 23 March, closing the 5–0 home rout of

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

. In June 2014, Méndez returned to Almería and renewed his contract with the club on 16 August, being definitely promoted to the first-team squad in

. He made his debut in the competition on 23 August, starting and assisting Fernando Soriano in a 1–1 home draw 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 s ...

. Méndez scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 12 September 2014, opening the 1–1 home draw against Córdoba CF. On 7 October, he agreed to an extension until 2018. On 1 July 2015, Méndez signed a four-year deal with neighbouring

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

after suffering relegation with Almería. In July 2016, he terminated his contract after being sparingly used, and joined fellow top-tier team

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...

for three years. On 8 February 2017, in the second leg of the semi-finals of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

, Méndez scored the only goal of the tie against RC Celta de Vigo, qualifying the Basques to the decisive match for the first time in their 91-year history; he came on as a 79th-minute substitute for

Gaizka Toquero Gaizka Toquero Pinedo (born 9 August 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a right winger. He spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 207 competitive matches during seven La Liga seasons a ...

, and scored just three minutes later. Méndez moved abroad on 4 July 2017, joining Mexican side

. On 31 January 2020, having won three titles, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with his former club Alavés. Méndez returned to the Liga MX in June 2022, agreeing to a deal at

Club 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 ...

Career statistics

Honours

Cruz Azul *

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

: Apertura 2018 *

Supercopa MX The Supercopa MX ( en, Supercup MX) was a Mexican football championship contested by the winners of the Apertura and Clausura Copa MX. History In June 2013 Liga MX president Decio De María announced the winners of Apertura and Clausura Copa MX w ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual association football competition between clubs from Major League Soccer and Liga MX in North America. It debuted in July 2019 with four teams participating from each league. The first edition was a single-eliminati ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Edgar 1990 births Living people People from Tenerife Footballers from the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers CF Atlético Ciudad players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers UD Melilla footballers UD Almería B players Real Jaén footballers CD Tenerife players UD Almería players Granada CF footballers Deportivo Alavés players Liga MX players Cruz Azul footballers Club Necaxa footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico