Juan Camilo "Cucho" Hernández Suárez (born 20 April 1999), known simply as Cucho Hernández, is a Colombian 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 plays as a striker or winger for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

and the Colombia national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in Pereira, Hernández played youth football for Indubolsas F.C. and was part of the Risaralda team that won the Pereira City Cup in 2014. He joined

Deportivo Pereira Deportivo Pereira is a professional Colombian football team based in Pereira, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium. History Early years While there are several am ...

in 2015 at the age of 15, catching the attention of the club after delivering impressive performances at the Pereira City Cup. He made his first team debut on 6 April 2015 at 15 years old, starting in a 2–1 home win against

Deportes Quindío Deportes Quindío is a Colombian professional football club based in Armenia that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on 8 January 1951, and its best achievement was winning the 1956 league tournament. They play thei ...

for the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is the second-division association football, football league in Colombia. The tournament was inaugura ...

championship. Hernández scored his first senior goal on 5 September 2015, netting his team's first in a 3–2 away win against

Real Santander Real Santander is a professional Colombian football team based in Bucaramanga, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Estadio Villa Concha in Piedecuesta, a municipality in the metropolitan area of B ...

. After finishing his first season with three goals, he was named captain of the team the following year at just 17 years old. He would end up scoring 20 times during the regular season, being the tournament's top goalscorer; despite playing more as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

than a

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. Highlights included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 3–0 home victory over Tigres F.C. on 3 July 2016.

Granada and loan to América de Cali

On 22 December 2016 Hernández joined

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

on loan from

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

, after signing for the latter side in September. for a reported £200k. He made his

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

debut on 23 February 2017, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 home loss against

Jaguares de Córdoba Jaguares de Córdoba is a professional Colombian football team based in Montería, that plays in Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Jaraguay stadium. History The team was created on 5 December 2012 at a meeting held by t ...

. Hernández scored his first goal in the top flight of Colombian football on 3 June 2017, netting the game's only goal in an away win over

Deportivo Pasto Asociación Deportivo Pasto, also known as Deportivo Pasto, is a Colombian professional football team based in the city of Pasto, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Estadio Departamental Libertad ...

Watford

After Granada was sold to

Jiang Lizhang Jiang Lizhang (; born October 27, 1981, in Fu'an) is a Chinese businessman who owns Granada CF in Spain's Segunda División, having bought a controlling stake for over €37m. He was also a part-owner of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, having bo ...

, former owner

Gino Pozzo Gino Pozzo (born 1965) is an Italian businessman and managing director and legal owner of Watford, who owns a sports investment group focused on the football sector. Early life He is son of Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo and a member of ...

assigned his federative rights to

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

ahead of the 2017–18 season.

Loans to Huesca, Mallorca and Getafe

On 8 July 2017, Hernández moved to

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 ...

side

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

on loan for one year. During the 2017-2018 season, he scored 16 goals and was named the league's player of the month in November, while his team achieved their first-ever promotion to

. On 4 June 2018, his loan was extended for a further season, and he made his top tier debut on 19 August by starting in a 2–1 away win against

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

. Hernández scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 2 September 2018, netting the opener in an 8–2 loss at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. He finished 2018–19 with four goals in 34 appearances, as his side was immediately relegated back. On 26 August 2019, Hernández signed a new long term contract with Watford and joined

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

on a season-long loan. Having arrived at Mallorca with a hamstring injury, Hernández made his debut with the club on 7 December 2019, coming on as a substitute versus

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 15 February 2020 in a 1

– 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 ...

0 victory against Alavés. At the end of the 2019–20 season, Mallorca were relegated to the

. On 14 August 2020, Hernández remained in Spain and its first division, after joining

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

on 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan. On 28 December 2020, Hernández was handed a four-match suspension for post-match statements that he made about the refereeing during the 25 October match against

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. Hernandez would also miss two months of the season due to suffering a fifth metatarsal fracture during the match against Atletico Madrid on 13 March 2021. He would return to play the final two matches of the 2020–21 La Liga season.

Return to Watford

On 14 August 2021, Hernández scored on his

debut in their league opener against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, where

won 3–2. On 9 April 2022, he suffered a hamstring injury; sidelining him for six weeks. He made his return to play in the final match of the season. At the conclusion of the season, Watford would be relegated.

Columbus Crew

2022 season

On 21 June 2022, Hernández agreed to join

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

for a club-record fee of

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

$10 million, joining as a Young Designated Player when the secondary transfer window would open on 7 July 2022. Hernández made his debut on 9 July 2022, coming off the bench to score the game winning goal against Chicago Fire. He would score a brace in the following match in a 2–2 draw vs

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

, once again coming off the bench, before getting his first start in MLS versus Hell is Real rivals

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

, scoring in the 16th minute of an eventual 2–0 victory, becoming the first player in MLS history to score four goals in under 90 minutes. On 29 September 2022, it was announced that Hernández had been suspended one match for the use of offensive language in Columbus' match against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

on 18 September. Hernández would end his first season in Major League Soccer with nine goals in 16 total appearances for his new club.

2023 season

At the beginning of the 2023 season, Hernández started in his side's first three games. After missing the following six games with a knee injury, Hernández would make his return to the team in a

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

match against

Indy Eleven Indy Eleven is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2013, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League (2011–2017), North American Soccer League (NASL) in 2014, b ...

, playing in the first half. He scored his first goal in the 2023 season the following league match against

Inter Miami Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (), commonly referred to as Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. ...

. On 2 September 2023, Hernández scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory over

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

, his first since his time at Deportivo Pereira. Hernández scored his second hat-trick for Columbus in a 3–0 victory over the Chicago Fire just two matches later. On 9 December, he scored the first goal of the match as Columbus beat

LAFC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. It was established on October 30, 2014, and began play in the ...

2–1 in

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

, with this title also being the Colombian's first in his career. He was later selected as the MLS Cup MVP and included in the Best XI.

2024 season

Hernández started out the new season with four goals across the club's first six matches, including a goal in the Champions Cup. On 23 March, Hernández was substituted out of the game in the 88th minute during a 0–2 defeat to

Charlotte FC Charlotte Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team is owned by David Tepper, who was awarded the e ...

, which led to a heated exchange with the assistant coaches. Following this altercation, Hernández was suspended for two games, with head coach Wilfried Nancy citing a violation of "team policy" as the reason for the suspension. During his first game back from suspension, Hernández received a direct red card for violent conduct, and missed the following match against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

. He scored in his first game back from red-card suspension against Portland on 20 April. After missing three games due to a back injury, Hernández made his return versus

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

in the Champions Cup final loss, and subsequently scored nine goals in nine games, including a hat-trick on 22 June versus

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

. The Crew won the

2024 Leagues Cup The 2024 Leagues Cup was the fourth edition of the Leagues Cup, an international club soccer tournament contested by Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX clubs in North America. It was held from July 26 to August 25, 2024, with all 77 matches ...

with a 3–1 victory in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Hernández contributed by scoring two goals and assisting on the third, earning him the Man of the Match title and the Leagues Cup Best Player award for the tournament.

Real Betis

On 3 February 2025, Hernández joined

club

on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee with The Crew entitled to a percentage of any future transfer fees for the player.

International career

Hernández has represented

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

at under-20 level, playing in the

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship (, ) was the 28th edition of the South American Youth Football Championship, a football competition for the under-20 national teams in South America organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador f ...

, as well as the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

, where he scored a hat-trick against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

. Hernández received his first call up to the senior side on 29 September 2018, and made his full international debut on 17 October, coming on in the 72nd minute, replacing

Carlos Bacca Carlos Arturo Bacca Ahumada (born 8 September 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Categoría Primera A club Atlético Junior. Bacca began his career at Atlético Junior, where he was top scorer in the 2010 ...

and scoring a brace in a 3–1 friendly win over

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

at Red Bull Arena in

Harrison, New Jersey Harrison is a town in the western part of Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark, and is located from New York City. Once considered "the bee ...

Personal life

Hernández acquired his nickname "''Cucho"'' at a young age, when his father shaved his head, leading him to bear a resemblance to Esteban ''"Cuchu"'' Cambiasso, a prominent Argentine soccer player at the time. He is a fan of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hernández goal.''

Honours

Columbus Crew *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS), the main soccer league in the United States, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

runner-up:

Individual * MLS Player of the Month: September 2023, July 2024 *

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

* MLS Cup MVP:

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

Best Player:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Cucho 1999 births Living people Footballers from Pereira, Colombia Colombian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers 21st-century Colombian sportsmen Categoría Primera A players Categoría Primera B players La Liga players Segunda División players Premier League players Deportivo Pereira footballers América de Cali footballers Watford F.C. players SD Huesca footballers RCD Mallorca players Getafe CF footballers Columbus Crew players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players