José Luis López Ramírez

Infobox Football biography
playername = José Luis López Ramírez
fullname = José Luis López Ramírez


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|03|31
cityofbirth = San José
countryofbirth = Costa Rica
height = height|m=1.78
currentclub = Melbourne Victory
clubnumber = 17
position = Central Midfielder
youthyears = 1996–1999
youthclubs = CS Herediano
years = 2000–2003
2003–2008
2008–"present"
clubs = CS Herediano
Deportivo Saprissa
Melbourne Victory
caps(goals) =
138 (6)
004 (0)
nationalyears = 2001
2004
2003
nationalteam = Costa Rica U-20
Costa Rica U-23
Costa Rica
nationalcaps(goals) = 4 (0)
pcupdate = 26 spetember 2008
ntupdate =

José Luis López Ramírez (born March 31, 1981) is a Costa Rican football (soccer) player who currently plays as midfielder for Australian club Melbourne Victory on a 2 year loan from Deportivo Saprissa.

Club career

With Saprissa he has already won two national championships, a UNCAF Cup and a CONCACAF Champions Cup title, in less than three years, and was part of the team that played the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup, where Saprissa finished third behind São Paulo Futebol Clube and Liverpool F.C.

Lopez joined Australian club Melbourne Victory in July 2008 on a two-year loan deal after the club managed to free up a space for another international player after left-back Joseph Keenan was released by mutual consent. [cite web|url=http://www.melbournevictory.com.au/default.aspx?s=mvfc_newsdisplay&id=22794|title=Victory adds second Costa Rican star |accessyear=2008] Lopez made his debut for Melbourne Victory against Perth Glory in the 2008-09 A-League Pre-Season Cup on Saturday, July 26, 2008, with Melbourne winning the game 1-0 through a Michael Thwaite header.

International career

Commonly known as "Puppy", he has been an important player for the Costa Rica national football team at numerous levels, playing in the under 20 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Argentina, as well as representing the country with the U-23 team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He has also been capped for the full national team, playing for the team during 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying. There has been confusion as to whether his nickname is "Pupy" or "Puppy". The Spanish wikipedia entry notes his nickname as "Puppy" [cite web|url=http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Luis_L%C3%B3pez_Ram%C3%ADrez|title=José Luis López Ramírez|accessyear=2008] .

References

External links

* [http://www.melbournevictory.com.au/default.aspx?s=mvfc_playerprofile_item&pid=1678 Melbourne Victory profile]
* [http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=182576/index.html FIFA profile]