Alejandro "Álex" López Sánchez (born 11 January 1988) is a Spanish former 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 lea ...

who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Early years

Born in Ferrol, Galicia, López graduated from

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

's youth system, and made his professional debut on 14 May 2005 when he came on as a late substitute in a 2–2 home draw against

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 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. In July, he was loaned to lowly

SD O Val Sociedade Deportiva O Val is a football team based in Narón, A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in . Their stadium is '' Sinde-O Val''. Season to season ---- *2 seasons in ''Tercera Divisió ...

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. López returned to Racing in June 2006, and after appearing sparingly in the first part of the season (with his team now in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

), he cancelled his contract and joined

Narón BP Narón Balompé Piñeiros was a Spanish football team based in Narón, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1996 and dissolved in 2015, it last played in Primeira Autonómica – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Río Seco ...

of the fourth level.

Celta

In June 2009, López joined

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

, initially being assigned to the reserves in the third division. After scoring 13 goals with the B team, he made his official debut with the main squad on 13 June 2010, playing 14 minutes in a 2–0 away loss to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. On 13 February 2013, he renewed his link until 2018. On 9 July 2015, López signed a contract extension with Celta until 2019, being immediately loaned to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. A year later, still owned by the former, he joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

Later career

López spent the 2017–18 campaign with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

also in the second tier. He appeared in only 13 competitive matches during his spell, mainly due to

lower back Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

problems. On 28 September 2018, López joined

Brisbane Roar FC Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

on a one-year deal. Following his one season in the Australian

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, he returned to third-division Racing de Ferrol in June. López contributed 37 games and four goals (

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

included) in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, as Racing won their group and returned to the professional leagues 15 years later. On 3 February 2025, he announced his retirement aged 37 in order to make room for new signings, but remained connected to the club in directorial capacities.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Alex 1988 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Ferrol, Spain Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Racing de Ferrol footballers RC Celta Fortuna players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Valladolid players Sporting de Gijón players English Football League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players A-League Men players Brisbane Roar FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia