Cristian Neptalí Cálix Alvarado (born 9 September 1999) is a Honduran 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Liga Nacional Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

club

Olancho FC Olancho Fútbol Club, previously known as C.D. Alianza Becerra, is a Honduran professional football club based in Juticalpa, Olancho, Honduras, that competes in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras. History Founded in 2010 as ...

Club career

Marathón

Born in

Juticalpa, Olancho Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...

, Cálix is the youngest of five brothers. At the age of 13, he decided to try his luck and pursue a footballing career in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671 ...

, where he joined the youth setup of

C.D. Marathón Club Deportivo Marathón is a Honduran professional football club based in San Pedro Sula. Founded on 25 November 1925, Marathón currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras. History Club Deportivo Marathón was fou ...

. On 29 April 2017, Cálix made his senior debut for Marathón in the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras Liga Betcris de Honduras (''Honduran National Professional Football League'') is the highest division of football in Honduras. The league season is divided into Opening (autumn) and Closing (spring). One team is relegated to the Liga de Ascenso ...

at the age of 17, coming off the bench in a 2–1 home victory over C.D.S. Vida in the Clausura tournament. The following season, Cálix appeared regularly for Marathón, and his first senior goal eventually came on 17 September 2017 in a 3–2 home win against C.D. Olimpia. He would add a further two goals that campaign in matches against Motagua and

Honduras Progreso Club Deportivo Honduras Progreso (commonly referred to as Honduras Progreso or simply Honduras), is a Honduran football club based in El Progreso, Honduras. It was founded in 1965 and currently plays in the Honduran Liga Nacional. History Club ...

, as his side won the 2018 Clausura tournament.

Atlas

On 27 December 2018,

Atlas F.C. Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic c ...

announced the transfer of Cálix from Marathón. He signed a four-year contract with ''Los Rojinegros'', but was assigned to the under-20 team after a delay in his registration. Once he was finally registered, Cálix was included the squad list for the Liga MX match against

Club Puebla Club Puebla, formerly Puebla F.C. is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Puebla, competing in the Liga MX. Known as ''La Franja'' ("The Striped Ones"), the team shirt features a diagonal stripe (traditionally blue on white ...

. He was a unused substitute in a 2–1 home loss. He spent the rest of the

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 tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

with the U–20 side, playing nine matches and scoring one goal.

Loan to Real Monarchs

On 9 July 2019,

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

side

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, the Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. While the senior club is ...

announced the

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

signing of Cálix for the remainder of the

. He made his debut – off the bench – in a 4–1 win against Tulsa Roughnecks FC, replacing

Luis Arriaga Luis Arriaga (born January 26, 2001) is an American soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder. Professional career Arriaga signed with Real Salt Lake on November 28, 2018, ahead of the 2019 season. He was released by Salt Lake following ...

in the 82nd minute. He scored his first goal the following 17 September in another 4–1 win, this time against Tacoma Defiance away from home. Cálix returned to Atlas after Real Monarchs opted not to trigger the buy-option in his contract.

Return to Marathón

On 6 January 2020, Cálix returned to C.D. Marathón, signing with the ''Esmeraldas'' on a year-long loan. He played the first match of his second spell the following 23 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 5–0 away defeat to Olimpia. The following

, Cálix scored the opening goal in a 3–0 home victory against

Real España Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (201 ...

on 14 October 2020.

International career

In July 2018, Cálix was called up to represent his nation at the

2018 Central American and Caribbean Games The 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Barranquilla, Colombia. Asamblea ODECABE, Islas Caimán' (translation: "CASCO Assembly, Cayman Islands"). Published by CACSO on 2012-10-27; retrieved 2012-11-13. Bidding process Q ...

in Colombia. He played in every match at the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and he opened the scoring in the third place match against

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, where he helped his side win 3–0 and take home bronze. The following year, Cálix represented Honduras at 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 197 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. He would only play in two matches, as Honduras were eliminated in the group stage. In June 2021, he was included in the preliminary 60-man Honduras squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled ...

, but was dropped from the final squad.

Honors

Marathón *

: 2018 Clausura *

Honduran Cup The Honduran Cup was the top knock-out football tournament in Honduras. The first tournament was played in 1968, four years later the second tournament took the name ''Copa Presidente'' ( en, President's Cup) in honor of Dr. Ramón Cruz; later, ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Real Monarchs *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cálix, Cristian 1999 births Living people People from Olancho Department Honduran men's footballers Men's association football midfielders C.D. Marathón players Atlas F.C. footballers Real Monarchs players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players USL Championship players Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Honduras Honduran expatriate men's footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Honduran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Honduras men's youth international footballers Honduras men's under-20 international footballers