He’s taken aim at the goal on screens all around the planet.
Now, Cristo Fernandez might be about to test his soccer skills against Sporting Club Jacksonville.
Fernandez, best known to viewers around the world for his role as Dani Rojas on the Apple TV series “Ted Lasso,” is now a real-life soccer professional with El Paso Locomotive FC in the USL Championship.
His opponent on July 25? None other than Sporting Jax.
Unfortunately for Jacksonville’s “Ted Lasso” fans, Fernandez isn’t coming to the First Coast. Instead, the game kicks off at 9 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas. If Fernandez plays, it would be his first-ever league game on his home field, because his official debut came in a separate competition, the Prinx Tires USL Cup.
Fernandez did not play in El Paso’s most recent game, on July 18 against FC Tulsa.
Whether or not Fernandez actually takes the field, this matchup could potentially shine the brightest national spotlight to date in the short history of the Sporting Jax men’s soccer squad, which played its first league game in March.
Cristo Fernandez: Ted Lasso star goes pro in soccer
Fernandez, who has played the role of fictional soccer striker Rojas since “Ted Lasso” was in its first season in 2020, is far from a newcomer to the game.
He grew up playing soccer in Mexico in the youth system of the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara club, known as Tecos, but switched from sports to acting as a teenager following a knee injury.
Now 35, Fernandez has been building toward the comeback for months. He trained with El Paso during the USL Championship preseason and signed his first professional soccer contract on May 12. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fernandez made his official El Paso debut on July 11, entering in the 79th minute of a USL Cup game against New Mexico United, although the performance didn’t go as planned: New Mexico scored two late goals to beat El Paso 2-0, and Fernandez himself received a yellow card for fouling opposing goalkeeper Kris Shakes.
Fernandez hasn’t been far away from the World Cup excitement, either. He accompanied the officiating crew and handed out the ceremonial coin for the pregame toss at the June 28 round-of-32 game between Canada and South Africa.
How to watch: El Paso Locomotive and Cristo Fernandez vs. Sporting Jax
When: 9 p.m. Saturday, July 25
Where: Southwest University Park, El Paso, Texas
Watch it: Streaming via ESPN+.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ‘Ted Lasso’ actor turns soccer pro. Next week’s opponent? Sporting Jax
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