Wilmer López Arguedas (born 3 August 1971) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

. He played for

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, Al ...

and is one of the club's biggest idols of all time.

Club career

López made his debut in the Costa Rican Primera División on 5 January 1992 playing with Carmelita against ASODELI also scoring his first league goal in that match.Trayectoria de Wílmer López
- Nación The following next season, he was bought by

, becoming one of the most beloved players and a crowd favorite, playing 13 seasons and winning 7 Costa Rican Championships, 3 Copa Interclubes UNCAF championships and 1

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 ...

, being part of the team that won 4 consecutive national championships (1999 to 2003). He was named the best player of the national tournament for two consecutive seasons before moving to

Deportes Tolima Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department, that competes in the Categoría Primera A. Founded in 1954, the club has won the C ...

in Colombia, whom he left very soon due to contractual problems, and again during another season, when he returned to Costa Rica. He also played the

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited includin ...

and the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. Nicknamed ''El Pato'' (The Duck), the

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 ...

also played for Pérez Zeledón. He is also known as ''El Ingeniero'' (The Engineer) due to his amazing ability to create plays with short and long passes and also for his fast thinking that made him one of the best midfielders in the region during the '90s and the early 2000s. After 2003, he suffered multiple injuries that made him lose a lot of games and he never regained his earlier abilities as a player, although he was still loved by the crowd and gave a few good games along the road to the end of the 2007 season when his contract expired and the team decided not to hire him again. It was a very sad day for all the

's fans. Every time Pérez Zeledón played at the Alejandro Morera Soto stadium, his former fans waited for him singingRegalo para Pato López
- Nación and clapping every time he touched the ball, letting him know he still was in their hearts. López totalled 478 league matches and 80 goals for ''Liga''. He also played 92 international club games for them. He played 550 league games in total.

International career

López made his debut for

in an August 1995

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and earned a total of 76 caps, scoring 6 goals. He represented his country in 22

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played in all 3 games during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

held in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and Japan. He also played at the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1997 UNCAF Nations Cup This page details the 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup, played in Guatemala. Squads :For a complete list of all participating squads see ''UNCAF Nations Cup 1997 squads'' Preliminary round Participating teams 6 Central American Football Union, UNCA ...

s as well as at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with ga ...

s and the

1997 Copa América The 1997 Copa America was the 38th edition of the Copa America. It was held in Bolivia from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. In this edition, Costa Rica and Mexico were the invited teams to br ...

. He also was a non-playing squad member at the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

. His final international was a July

match against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Retirement

On Wednesday 22 July 2009, López played his retirement match with

against a team of friends that he picked himself. He played the first half with his friends and the second half with

to finish the match defending the colors that he loves. "El Pato" was one of the most loved players in

, along with his devotion to "La 12", the official group of Fans. They became more notorious on the day of his retirement, when all the fans jumped into the field to carry him on their shoulders for almost an hour.

Personal life

López is married to Alejandra López and the couple has two sons and a daughter. For a brief period in 2014, her daughter dated the Costa Rican celebrity Andrés ''Nando'' Sibaja.Campamento tico En familia
- Nación

References

External links

*

- Nación {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Wilmer 1971 births Living people Footballers from Alajuela Men's association football midfielders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers 1997 Copa América players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 Copa América players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players A.D. Carmelita footballers Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers Deportes Tolima footballers Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Costa Rican football managers Liga FPD players