Alex Roldán

Alexander Roldán León (born July 28, 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC. Born in the United States, he captains the El Salvador national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Roldán and the second or maternal family name is León.
Alex Roldán
Personal information
Full name Alexander Roldán León[1]
Date of birth (1996-07-28) July 28, 1996
Place of birth Artesia, California, United States
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
 Seattle Sounders FC
Number 16
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Seattle Redhawks 82 (18)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016 Washington Crossfire 13 (0)
2017 OSA FC
2018– Seattle Sounders FC 126 (2)
2019 → Tacoma Defiance 15 (2)
International career‡
2021– El Salvador 23 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 03:16, July 16, 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of July 4, 2023

Club career

College and amateur

Roldan attended El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California. He played soccer for The Dons helping them to the playoffs all four years and winning a state championship. With his time with The Dons, he earned first-team all-league three times, and was named league MVP in after his senior season.[3]

Roldan spent his college career at the Seattle University. In his four seasons with the Redhawks, Roldan made a total of 82 appearances and tallied 18 goals and 17 assists.[3][4]

Roldan also played in the National Premier Soccer League for OSA FC.[5]

Professional

On January 19, 2018, Roldan was selected 22nd overall in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft by Seattle Sounders FC.[6] He signed with the club in February 2018.[7] Alex assisted his brother Cristian Roldan in his first-ever MLS career start against Sporting Kansas City. They became the fifth set of brothers to earn a goal/assist together. They also became the seventh pair of brothers in MLS history, including the first for the Sounders, to start together in an MLS match.[8]

Roldan was out of contract with Seattle at the end of the 2019 season.[9] He was re-signed by the Sounders on February 17, 2020.[10]

Roldan enjoyed a breakout type run of form at the beginning of the 2021 MLS season. Throughout the first six matches of the 2021 MLS Season, Roldan recorded 2 assists from his position as a defender and played every minute.[11] During a MLS match against San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei left the match due to injury and with the club having already utilized their three opportunities to make substitutions, a field player was required to step into the goalkeeper position. Roldan, a defender, appeared in goal for the remaining five minutes of stoppage time, an occasion that has only occurred twelve times in MLS history.[12]

International career

Eligible for the United States, Guatemala and El Salvador, it was reported in May 2021 that Roldan had turned down an approach from Guatemala.[13] In June 2021 El Salvador head coach Hugo Pérez confirmed that Roldan had agreed to represent El Salvador.[14] On June 18, he was named to El Salvador's provisional squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[15] On July 1, he was named to the final squad.[16] On July 11 he made his international debut as a substitute in El Salvador's first group stage match against Guatemala, where he also got his first goal, scoring the first in a 2–0 victory.[17]

Personal life

Roldan was born to an immigrant father from Guatemala and mother from El Salvador, Cesar and Ana respectively, and has two older brothers, Cesar Jr., who works as a trainer for the LA Galaxy, and Cristian, a midfielder for the Seattle Sounders FC.[3][18][19]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played July 30, 2023[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Seattle Sounders FC 2 2018 USL 81———81
Tacoma Defiance 2019 USL 61———61
2020 USL 10———10
Total 152000000152
Seattle Sounders FC 2018 MLS 190101[lower-alpha 1]0—210
2019 MLS 9010——100
2020 MLS 180—1[lower-alpha 1]04[lower-alpha 2]0230
2021 MLS 291——4[lower-alpha 3]0331
2022 MLS 321008[lower-alpha 1]0—401
2023 MLS 19000—3[lower-alpha 4]0220
Total 1262201001101492
Career total 1414201001101644
  1. Appearance(s) in CONCACAF Champions League
  2. Appearance(s) in MLS Cup Playoffs
  3. Three appearances in Leagues Cup, one appearance in MLS Cup Playoffs
  4. One appearance in FIFA Club World Cup, two appearances in Leagues Cup

International
As of match played July 4, 2023[21]
El Salvador
YearAppsGoals
2021122
202240
202371
Total233
As of match played June 20, 2023. El Salvador score listed first, score column indicates score after each Roldán goal.[21]
List of international goals scored by Alex Roldán
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 July 11, 2021 Toyota Stadium, Frisco, United States 1  Guatemala 1–0 2–0 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup
2 November 12, 2021 Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador 11  Jamaica 1–1 1–1 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 June 20, 2023 Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea 20  South Korea 1–1 1–1 Friendly

Honours

Seattle Sounders FC

Individual

References
  1. "Group A, 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup: El Salvador" (PDF). CONCACAF. p. 2. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  2. "FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2022™: List of Players: Seattle Sounders FC" (PDF). FIFA. February 7, 2023. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  3. "Alex Roldan". GoSeattleU.com. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  4. "Alex Roldan". mlsSoccer.com. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  5. "On the same team: OSA FC roster connects players from local universities". goalwashington.wordpress.com. May 3, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  6. Krasnoo, Ryan (January 19, 2018). "MLS SuperDraft 2018: Seattle Sounders select Alex Roldan with the 22nd pick". SoundersFC.com. Sounders FC Public Relations. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  7. "Sounders FC signs Alex Roldan and Jordan McCrary". Seattle Sounders FC. February 13, 2018.
  8. "Alex Roldan records assist to Cristian Roldan in first career MLS start". Seattle Sounders FC. April 15, 2018.
  9. "Sounders FC announces roster decisions to conclude 2019 season". Seattle Sounders FC. November 20, 2019.
  10. "Sounders FC re-signs defender Alex Roldan". Seattle Sounders FC. February 18, 2020.
  11. "Alex Roldan". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  12. Oshan, Jeremiah (May 13, 2021). "Postgame Pontifications: Alex Roldan just turned into a genuine folk hero". Sounder At Heart. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  13. Olsen, Jeremiah (May 21, 2021). "Alex Roldan turned down a call-up to Guatemala, report says".
  14. Olsen, Jeremiah (June 17, 2021). "Alex Roldan will represent El Salvador internationally, report says".
  15. Creditor, Avi (June 18, 2021). "Early Takeaways From Concacaf's Preliminary Gold Cup Squads".
  16. Salvadoran Football Federation [@LaSelecta_SLV] (July 1, 2021). "Convocatoria Oficial de nuestra #SelectaMayor para la @goldcup" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2021 – via Twitter.
  17. "El Salvador blanks Guatemala in Gold Cup". National Post. Reuters. July 12, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  18. Baker, Geoff (January 19, 2018). "Sounders select Alex Roldan, younger brother of Cristian Roldan, in first round of MLS SuperDraft". Seattle Times. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  19. Baker, Geoff (August 1, 2017). "Sounders' Cristian Roldan remembers the sacrifices his parents made in Pico Rivera". Seattle Times. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  20. Alex Roldán at Soccerway
  21. "Alex Roldán". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
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