Alec Díaz (born December 7, 2001) is a Puerto Rican

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 plays as a

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who currently plays for

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

club

Colorado Rapids 2 Colorado Rapids 2 is a professional soccer club based in Denver, Colorado area that competes in the MLS Next Pro league, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, Major League Soccer clu ...

and the Puerto Rico national team.

Early life

Díaz began playing soccer at age three or four. He played youth soccer with Pacific Northwest SC(PacNW). He also played at the state level for Washington. In 2015, he joined the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

Academy via the Sounders Discovery Program. At the U16 level, he helped them win the Youdan Trophy in 2016 defeating

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. In 2018, he won the USSDA National Championship with the U17 Sounders, scoring 36 goals in 38 matches across all competitions and also scored the winning goal to win the Generation Adidas Cup over the New York Red Bulls Academy.

Club career

In 2018, he signed a USL Academy contract with

Seattle Sounders FC 2 The Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the Puget Sound region in Tukwila, Washington, United States. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, a league in the third ...

(later renamed to Tacoma Defiance). He made his

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debut on September 5, 2018, appearing as a 59th-minute substitute in a 4–4 draw against the

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. He scored his first professional goal on October 10 against the

Colorado Springs Switchbacks Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC is a professional soccer team based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 2014, the team is a member of the Western Conference in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The fra ...

. Díaz signed a professional contract with Seattle Sounders FC 2 ahead of their

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. In his first full professional season, he scored one goal in 16 appearances. In 2020, he ranked in the top 10 in the league in combined goals and assists per 90 minutes, the only teenager in the top 10. In March 2022, he joined

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that competes in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as we ...

. On September 15, 2023, he scored a brace with two goals in two minutes against New York City FC II. In March 2024, he signed with

for the 2024 season. He made his debut on March 17, recording his first assist for the club in a match against St. Louis City 2. He scored his first goal on March 21 in a

2024 U.S. Open Cup The 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 109th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, the knockout domestic cup competition of American soccer. Houston Dynamo FC were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the round of 32 by Detroit City FC. L ...

match in a 3–0 victory over Azteca FC.

International career

In January 2019, Díaz was called up to a training camp for the United States U18. In September 2019, Díaz was called up to the Puerto Rico national team ahead of a friendly match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and CONCACAF Nations League match against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He made his debut against Honduras on September 5, 2019. In February 2020, he was called up for the Puerto Rico U-20 national team for the first round of the 2020 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying tournament. He appeared in all three matches, including scoring two goals against the Cayman Islands U20.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Alec 2001 births Living people Puerto Rican men's footballers Puerto Rico men's international footballers American men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Issaquah, Washington Tacoma Defiance players Soccer players from King County, Washington USL Championship players Puerto Rico men's youth international footballers Toronto FC II players MLS Next Pro players Colorado Rapids 2 players 21st-century American sportsmen