Erik Nicolás López Samaniego (born 27 November 2001) is a Paraguayan 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 forward for Olimpia in the

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...

Club career

Olimpia

Born in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, López began his career in youth system of Olimpia. On 25 August 2019, López made his professional debut for Olimpia in the Primera División against

Deportivo Santaní Club Deportivo Santaní, is a Paraguayan football club based in the city of San Estanislao, locally known as ''Santaní''. The club was founded February 27, 2009 and plays in División Intermedia, the second division in the Paraguayan football l ...

. He started and also scored his first goal in the 28th minute as Olimpia won 4–0. In the following two matches, López scored another two goals, one each against

Deportivo Capiatá ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

and San Lorenzo. López finished his first professional season at Olimpia with 4 goals in 15 matches.

Atlanta United

On 18 July 2020, López signed with

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

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

on a contract starting prior to the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

season. For the 2020 season, López would join

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in MLS Next Pro, the official reserve league of MLS. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professional seaso ...

, the reserve side of Atlanta United, in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

Loan to Banfield

On 22 February 2022, López was loaned to Banfield for the 2022 season.

Mutual termination

On August 4, 2023, Atlanta United and López agreed to a mutual termination of his contract.

International career

In 2020, López was called-in as part of the Paraguay squad for the

CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The CONMEBOL Preolímpico () is an international association football event in the South America region organized by CONMEBOL. It is the qualification tournament for the football at the Summer Olympics, football tournament at the Olympic Games. ...

. He made his debut for the Paraguay under-23s on 19 January 2020 against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, starting in a 1–0 defeat.

Career statistics

Honours

Olimpia * Primera División: 2019 Torneo Clausura

References

External links

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:López, Erik 2001 births Footballers from Asunción Living people Men's association football forwards Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguay men's youth international footballers Club Olimpia footballers Atlanta United 2 players Atlanta United FC players Club Atlético Banfield footballers Paraguayan Primera División players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Argentine Primera División players Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen