Alexander Agustín López Rodríguez (born 5 June 1992) is a Honduran 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 an

attacking 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 ...

for

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

club Alajuelense and the Honduras national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

Distrito Central Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

Francisco Morazán José Francisco Morazán Quesada (; born October 3, 1792 – September 15, 1842) was a Central American politician who served as president of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1830 to 1839. Before he was president of Central America h ...

, López joined Olimpia's youth system at the age of 7. He remained in the youth ranks until 2010, where he was finally able to make the breakthrough into the first team.

Olimpia

On 8 August 2010, López made his league debut against

Hispano F.C. Comayagua Fútbol Club () was a Honduras, Honduran Association football, football club, based in Comayagua, Honduras. The club was founded in 1945 as ''Hispano Galvez'', eventually dropping "Galvez". The ''Hispano'' club played from 2005 to 2011 ...

, coming on for

Bani Lozano Bani Ramón Lozano Núñez (born 1 May 1982 in Arenal) is a Honduran international footballer who plays for Platense in the Liga Nacional de Honduras. His usual position is left back, but he is also capable of operating as a winger. Clu ...

in the 70th minute. He scored his first goal – which was the second of the match – to help seal a 2–0 victory. Following the 2012 Summer Olympics, López was continuously linked with a move to Europe, with English side

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

being an alleged suitor for the young

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativity ...

. However, these transfer links came to nothing, and López remained at Olimpia for the following season. In 2022, a British journalist called Kieran Morris claimed that Wigan's interest in the player, which was reported as fact in national newspapers in the UK and Honduras, had been fabricated by him and his friends, who contacted various press outlets pretending to be a club insider or journalist as a prank.

Houston Dynamo

On 6 August 2013, López signed for

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side Houston Dynamo as a

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. He made his debut for the club on 20 August in the

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against W Connection F.C. in a 0–0 draw. He made his league debut 3 days later in the 5–0 defeat against the Montreal Impact. Despite impressing fans with demonstrations of his individual skill – most notably his 30-yard

rabona In association football, the rabona is the technique of kicking the football where the kicking leg is crossed behind the back of the standing leg. There are several reasons why a player might opt to strike the ball this way: for example, a righ ...

chip for Jason Johnson on his first start against the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

– López was unable to hold down a place in the Dynamo side for the remainder of the 2013 season, as issues with homesickness and fitness prevented

Dominic Kinnear Dominic Kinnear (born July 26, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former player. On January 18, 2022, he was named an assistant coach by FC Cincinnati, his first coaching role since serving as the interim head coach of the LA Galaxy. As a ...

from giving the Honduran an extended run in the side. He finished the season with 2 appearances, and providing 1 assist, playing no part in Dynamo's performance in the 2013 Eastern Conference finals.

Return to Olimpia

On 18 January 2016, López returned to Olimpia and signed a six-month contract after it was confirmed that he would no longer continue with Houston Dynamo. He made his first appearance since his return the following 31 January in a 0–0 draw against

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, replacing Romell Quioto in the 56th minute. He would help Olimpia win the 2016 Clausura tournament, which was also the club's 30th title win.

Al-Khaleej

López signed a two-year deal with

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

side

Khaleej FC Khaleej Football Club ( ar, نادي الخليج بسيهات, nādī al-khalīj bi-Sayhāt, Saihat Gulf Club) is a Saudi Arabian multisports club. Located in Saihat, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It is a sport, social, educational club. A ...

on 28 June 2016. He made his debut the following 12 August in the 3–1 defeat against Al-Faisaly, scoring his first goal. On 22 January 2017, the club announced through their social networks that they had terminated the contract of López.

Second return to Olimpia

After his contract with Al-Khaleej was terminated, López re-signed with Olimpia. On 9 February 2017 he scored in his return match, a 7–1 win over C.D.S. Vida. López would win the inaugural CONCACAF League tournament with Olimpia in October 2017, after his side defeated

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4–1 on penalties in the second leg.

Alajuelense

On 13 January 2018, López signed for Costa Rican side

Liga Deportiva 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 ...

. He made his league debut for the club in a 3–1 loss against Pérez Zeledón. López would score his first goal in the return fixture against Pérez Zeledón in a 3–0 win.

International career

On 18 November 2008, López made his debut for the Honduras U-17 during the

2009 CONCACAF U-17 Championship qualification The 2009 CONCACAF U-17 Championship qualification tournaments took place in 2008 to qualify national teams for the 2009 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, which was played in Mexico from 21 April to 9 May 2009. Central American Zone Group A Matches i ...

match against

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. He scored his first goal in the 53rd minute in a 9–0 victory. In 2009, he was included by Emilio Umanzor in the 21-man squad for the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. The tournament was won by Switzerland, beating the host team and holders, Nigeria. The Golden Ball to the ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

. López represented his country at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He would only play three games, as Honduras would be eliminated by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the quarter-finals. In October 2010, López made his senior debut for Honduras in a

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 Guatemala. He scored his first senior international goal on 1 September 2017 in the

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match against

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in a 2–1 win. His second goal would come on 21 November 2018 in a 4–1 friendly loss against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Honduras goal tally first, score column indicates score after each López goal.''

Honours

Olimpia *

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Alajuelense *

: Apertura 2020 *

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 ...

Honduras *

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

third place:

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Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

Golden Ball:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Alexander 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Tegucigalpa Association football midfielders Honduran footballers Honduran expatriate footballers Honduras international footballers Olympic footballers of Honduras C.D. Olimpia players Houston Dynamo FC players Khaleej FC players L.D. Alajuelense footballers Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS) Saudi Professional League players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Costa Rica Honduran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica 2011 Copa Centroamericana players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 Copa Centroamericana players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa Centroamericana-winning players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players