Diego Armando Mejía Pérez (born June 20, 1982 in

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

) is a retired Salvadoran

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 ...

Club career

Mejía came through the Chelona youth academy and had a couple of seasons at Alianza before moving abroad to play for Honduran giants F.C. Motagua. After six months he returned to El Salvador to play for

Once Municipal Club Deportivo Once Municipal was a Salvadoran football team from Ahuachapán that last competed in the Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador, Primera División, the premier division of Football in El Salvador, in 2018. It was nicknamed "' ...

and San Salvador F.C. In 2007, he joined Mexican side Cobras. In December 2007, that was reported that Mejía would make a comeback to football after a year long injury had prevented him from taking part in competitive games at any level. He impressed during trials at both

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

side

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks. On December 6, 2016, the RailH ...

, and

USL Second Division The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ...

side Real Maryland in the early part of 2008, but ultimately decided to sign with the PDL team, Southern California Seahorses in the fourth division

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

. He scored three goals in 11 games for them.

International career

With the El Salvador U-21 team, Mejía won the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games. He made his senior debut for

in a March 2001

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

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 ...

and has earned a total of 19 caps, scoring 3 goals. He has represented his country in 3

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 at the

2003 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup was an association football tournament. It was held in two venues in Panama in February 2003, and was played in a Round-robin tournament, round robin tournament, each of the 6 teams playing each other once. Costa Rica ...

as well as at the

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 ...

. His final international game was a September 2004 World Cup qualification 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 El Salvador's goal tally first.''

Post football

Mejía is now an athletic director in one of three

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 ...

schools in Mexico, in the Chihuahua state.

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people Footballers from San Salvador Men's association football forwards Salvadoran men's footballers 21st-century Salvadoran sportsmen El Salvador men's international footballers 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Alianza F.C. (El Salvador) footballers F.C. Motagua players C.D. Once Municipal footballers San Salvador F.C. footballers Southern California Seahorses players Salvadoran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Honduras Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players USL League Two players {{ElSalvador-footy-bio-stub