Álvaro López Ratón (born 29 January 1993) is a Spanish 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

Lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

Club career

Early career

Born in O Carballiño,

Ourense Ourense (; ) is a city and the capital of the province of province of Ourense, Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path o ...

, Galicia, Ratón joined

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 ...

's youth setup in 2007, aged 13, after spells at

CD Arenteiro Club Deportivo Arenteiro is a football team based in O Carballiño in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1958, it plays in . Its stadium is '' Espiñedo'' with a capacity of 4,500 seats. Between 1990 and 2005 the club was known as ...

and Pabellón CF. He subsequently represented

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

and Montañeros CF as a youth, before signing for Arroyo CP in 2012. After making no appearances for Arroyo, Ratón left the club in December 2012 and moved to

Algeciras CF Algeciras Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Algeciras, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1909 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at '' Estadio Nuevo Mirador''. History Foo ...

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. He made his senior debut on 10 February 2013, starting in a 2–0 home win against

CD Alcalá Club Deportivo Alcalá is a Spanish football team based in Alcalá de Guadaira, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1945 it plays in , and plays home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Ciudad de Alcalá'', with a capacity of 2,261 seaters ...

. Ratón joined

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 ...

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

also in the fourth level in June 2013, after impressing on a trial. After being rarely used, he signed with

CF Villanovense Club de Fútbol Villanovense is a Spanish football team based in Villanueva de la Serena, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1992 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Romero Cuerda'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. ...

on 17 July 2014.

Zaragoza

On 12 June 2015 Ratón moved to another

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 ...

in the fourth division. On 15 July of the following year, after being an undisputed starter, he renewed his contract until 2019 and was definitely promoted to the first team. Ratón made his professional debut on 7 September, starting in a 1–2

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

home loss against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 23 October, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against the same opponent. After overtaking Xabi Irureta and Sebastián Saja in his first season, Ratón spent the following years as a backup to Cristian Álvarez. On 2 June 2023, he left the club after eight seasons as his contract was due to expire.

Wisła Kraków

On 24 June 2023, Ratón moved abroad to join Polish second division side

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

on a one-year deal. He made two

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

appearances during the 2023–24 season, in two 2–1 victories over

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

clubs

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

and

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2025–26, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. Histo ...

, as Wisła went on to win 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 ...

against

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

on 2 May 2024. On 26 April 2024, his contract was extended for another year. He made no further appearances for Wisła past that point, and left the club by mutual consent on 13 June 2024.

Lamia

On 4 July 2024, Ratón signed with

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

International career

Ratón earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for Galicia in the region's first match in eight years on 31 May 2024, coming on as a substitute in the 33rd minute of a 0–2 friendly loss to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Honours

Wisła Kraków *

: 2023–24

References

External links

*
Álvaro Ratón profile
at La Preferente * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raton, Alvaro 1993 births Living people People from O Carballiño (comarca) Footballers from the Province of Ourense Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players I liga players Super League Greece players Algeciras CF footballers Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers CF Villanovense players Deportivo Aragón players Real Zaragoza players Wisła Kraków players PAS Lamia 1964 players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Spanish sportsmen