Luis Tejada


Luis Carlos "Matador" Tejada Hansell is a Panamanian professional football striker. He currently plays for Molinos El Pirata and the Panamanian national team.

Club career

Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side Deportes Tolima. Later on he was transferred to first division team Envigado in 2004, and after a splendid participation in the Gold Cup, he set off to the United Arab Emirates.
In 2005, he signed a 3-year contract to send him to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates. However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the AFC Champions League, and he returned to Panama.
Returning to Panama, he participated in the championship of Clausura of ANAPROF with the Plaza Amador, one of the best teams of the local football league, but he only participated in a few matches. His conditioning was not optimal, and he acquired the nickname of "el gordito ". Growing into better form, he moved on to Colombia, where he played a short spell with ex Copa Libertadores champions Once Caldas, from which he was fired for disciplinary problems. He then returned to Panama to play for Plaza Amador.
Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Tejada on 12 December 2006, for the 2007 season. He played only two minutes in five games, however, before he was released by head coach Jason Kreis. He returned to Panamanian side Tauro, but did not play very much since he was shortly signed by Colombian side América de Cali. He scored 4 goals during his short stay in Panama.
Matador scored only 3 goals in the Torneo Finalizacion 2007; however, he became a key player for América in the next tournament. Tejada played 19 games in the Torneo Iniciacion 2008 where he scored 12 goals, becoming América de Cali's top-scorer and the second in the tournament. Tejada reached the final where America lost to Boyacá Chicó. He was nicknamed by the Colombian press as America's golden tooth because of his golden tooth. After the tournament, there was much interest for Tejada, including from Argentine side River Plate; however, nothing was concrete. Unfortunately for the Matador América could not pay his salary and price so he was sold to Bogotá's side Millonarios where he debuted on 16 August 2008 in the Embajadores victory over Deportes Quindío. After an unsuccessful spell at Millonarios. Tejada returned once more to Tauro and afterwards moved to Peru to play for champions Juan Aurich. At Juan Aurich, Tejada scored an impressive 48 goals in 65 games and attracted interest from teams in stronger leagues such as Mexico and Brazil. Tejada finally moved to Mexican side Deportivo Toluca in late 2012 as a replacement for the Uruguyan striker Iván Alonso. His spell at Toluca began promising after a late arrival, scoring 4 goals in 5 matches; however, his performance and consistency dropped for the liguilla, the Clausura 2013 and in the disappointing performance of Toluca at Copa Libertadores. In summer 2013 he joined Veracruz.
In December 2013, Tejada returned to Peru where he played with Juan Aurich for two years. He joined Universidad César Vallejo.
On 1 March 2015, Tejada walked off the pitch during a match against Cienciano after being subjected to racist abuse from fans.

International career

Tejada made his debut for Panama in a June 2001 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago and has, as of 1 August 2015, earned a total of 88 caps, scoring 40 goals and making him Panama's all-time record goalscorer just ahead of Blas Pérez. He represented his country in 24 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and in March 2005, Tejada scored a goal from an overhead kick against Mexico in a World Cup 2006 qualifying match that gave Panama a 1:1 tie against the CONCACAF giants. This goal was voted the best goal of the year by Fox Sports.
Tejada led Panama to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, where they finished as runners-up to the United States. He scored three goals to end up as joint top scorer, but unfortunately, he missed his penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against the United States in the final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for his efforts. Tejada is currently the all-time leading scorer in Panama history.
Tejada was ejected from the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi final against Mexico after receiving a red card.
In May 2018, he was named in Panama's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

International goals

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreFinalCompetition
1.27 June 2003Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
2–0
Friendly
2.29 June 2003Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
1–0
Friendly
3.28 April 2004Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
3–0
4–1
Friendly
4.13 June 2004Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–0
4–0
2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
5.20 June 2004Vieux Fort Stadium, Vieux Fort
1–0
3–0
2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
6.30 March 2005Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–1
1–1
2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
7.5 July 2005Orange Bowl, Miami
1–0
1–0
2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
8.9 July 2005Orange Bowl, Miami
1–1
2–2
2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
9.9 July 2005Orange Bowl, Miami
2–2
2–2
2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
10.3 September 2005Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–3
1–3
2006 FIFA World Cup qual.
11.7 October 2006Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
1–0
Friendly
12.19 November 2006Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
1–2
Friendly
13.14 January 2007East Los Angeles College Stadium, Monterey Park
1–0
1–1
Friendly
14.18 February 2007Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador
1–0
1–1
2007 UNCAF Nations Cup
15.4 June 2008Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale
1–1
2–2
Friendly
16.15 June 2008Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
1–0
2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
17.31 March 2009Estadio Agustín Sánchez, La Chorrera
1–0
4–0
Friendly
18.7 June 2009National Stadium, Kingston
2–2
2–3
Friendly
19.12 July 2009University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale
3–0
4–0
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
20.12 July 2009University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale
4–0
4–0
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
21.11 August 2010Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–1
3–1
Friendly
22.3 September 2010Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–1
2–2
Friendly
23.3 September 2010Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–1
2–2
Friendly
24.7 September 2010Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–0
3–0
Friendly
25.17 November 2010Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
2–0
Friendly
26.7 June 2011Ford Field, Detroit
2–0
3–2
2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
27.14 June 2011Livestrong Sporting Park, Kansas City
1–1
1–1
2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
28.19 June 2011RFK Stadium, Washington
1–1
1–1
2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
29.10 August 2011Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz
1–1
3–1
Friendly
30.10 August 2011Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz
2–1
3–1
Friendly
31.6 September 2011Estadio Nacional de Fútbol, Managua
1–0
2–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
32.7 October 2011Windsor Park, Roseau
2–0
5–0
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
33.11 October 2011Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
5–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
34.11 October 2011Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
4–0
5–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
35.26 March 2013Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–0
2–0
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
36.11 October 2013Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
1–1
1–2
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
37.15 October 2013Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–1
2–3
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier
38.31 March 2015Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–0
2–1
Friendly
39.10 July 2015Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
1–0
1–1
2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
40.19 July 2015MetLife Stadium, New York City
1–0
1–1
2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
41.17 November 2015Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
1–2
1–2
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier
42.8 January 2016Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City
2–0
4–0
Copa América Centenario play-off
43.6 September 2016Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José
1–3
1–3
2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier

Honours

Club

;Juan Aurich