Cristo Fernández, the 35-year-old Mexican actor who played Dani Rojas in ‘Ted Lasso’, fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
On Saturday, July 11, he came on as a substitute in the 79th minute for El Paso Locomotive FC, in a USL Cup match against New Mexico United at Southwest University Park, Texas.
The team lost 2-0 and he picked up a yellow card wearing number 91 on his back, but that mattered little. At 15, he played in Tecos de Guadalajara’s youth ranks, then moved on to Mexico’s Third Division and Puerto Rico, until a knee injury closed that door for him.
He went to study acting at the Guildford School of Acting, graduated in 2018, and ended up sharing the screen with Spider-Man, Transformers and Sonic.
He signed with El Paso Locomotive in May, after a two-month trial. Dani Rojas said that football is life… and Cristo took it very seriously.