Alejandro 'Álex' López de Groot (born 18 September 1993) is a Spanish

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.

Club career

Born in

Calafell Calafell () is a village in the province of Tarragona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of . Tourism The town is located at the heart of the Baix Penedès region; the gateway to the Costa Daurada, its economy depend ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, to a Dutch mother and a Spanish father. He is a grandson of Dutch cyclist

Daan de Groot Daniël ("Daan") de Groot (25 May 1933 – 8 January 1982) was a road bicycle and track cyclist from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. In the 1952 Olympics, De Groot was elimin ...

. López graduated with

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before ...

's youth setup, after a short stint 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 made his debuts as a senior in the 2011–12 campaign, in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. On 3 July 2014, after scoring 12 goals during the previous season López moved to

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, being assigned to the reserves also in the third tier. On 17 May of the following year, he scored five goals in an 8–2 away routing of

Real Zaragoza B Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

, taking his tally up to 11. On 26 July 2015, López signed a four-year deal with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

, newly promoted 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 ...

. He made his professional debut on 23 August, starting in a 2–2 home draw against

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

. López scored his first professional goal on 10 October 2015, netting the equalizer in a 2–2 draw at

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Primera Federación - Group 1, holding home ma ...

. On 8 October of the following year, he scored a brace in a 4–4 away draw against

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

. On 10 July 2017, López was transferred to

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, ...

, freshly relegated to the third tier. On 7 August 2019, after achieving two consecutive promotions with the club, he was loaned to second division side

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la ...

for one year. During the end of his time at Mallorca, he struggled with injuries and became a free agent. In November 2021, López was announced at

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (; ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava. Usually it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeas ...

. On 30 August 2022, López was announced at

UE Cornellà Unió Esportiva Cornellà, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S. A. D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in , holding home gam ...

References

External links

Gimnàstic official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Alex 1993 births Living people People from Baix Penedès Footballers from the Province of Tarragona Spanish people of Dutch descent Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players CF Reus Deportiu players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers RCD Mallorca players Extremadura UD footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen