Nicolás Federico López Alonso

Nicolás López topped the scoring charts at the South American U-20 Championship in 2013 with ten goals. Those performances, delivered for a Uruguay side that never gave him a senior cap, were enough to take him from Nacional to AS Roma within months of his professional debut.

The move to Italy did not work out as planned. He shifted to Udinese, then spent two seasons out on loan, first at Hellas Verona and then at Granada, before a brief return to Nacional. It was only when he crossed the Atlantic again, to Internacional and then to Tigres UANL, that his career found its rhythm. In Mexico he became a genuine force: Tigres won the CONCACAF Champions League and the Clausura title during his time there, and in the Apertura 2021 he was named to the Liga MX Best XI while sharing the division's Golden Boot.

He returned to Nacional on loan in the 2024–2025 season and produced the best scoring form of his career, with 24 goals in 34 appearances, prolific enough that the club moved to extend his contract that March. Despite the U-20 pedigree and the preliminary call-up to Uruguay's 2022 World Cup squad, senior international recognition never followed. At club level, though, the honours list is substantial: a Primera División title with Nacional as a teenager, and multiple trophies won a decade later on the other side of the world.