The Colombian player has not had a club since 2019, when he played for Inter Ibiza, a regional team from Spain. The pandemic forced him to return to his native Cali and he does not have a steady job. He currently works as a food delivery man.
Rinson López spent most of his career in Ecuador. It started in Aucas, in 2009, and then went through Macará, Espoli, Pelileo, Tabacundo, El Nacional and América.
In January 2018, the footballer was sanctioned for falsifying his nationality. He posed as an Ecuadorian and played for El Nacional. López acknowledged his mistake and the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) imposed a sanction of six months of inactivity.
López made El Nacional break its tradition of only playing with Ecuadorian players. He was Colombian and wore the ‘red’ shirt all season. When his case was known, the scandal broke out worldwide.
From there, his career was unstable. In August of that same year, he signed a contract and was authorized by the FEF to play for América de Quito in Serie B. However, the coaching staff removed him from the squad and did not let him train. “There were bad comments against me,” he says in a chat with PRIMICIAS.
Rinson López did not continue in America and returned to Cali to try his luck. Opportunities in Ecuador were rare.
“After solving some paperwork in Ecuador, I got in touch with a coach in Cali. I told him what happened to me and he supported me to keep me in good physical condition and find in club“Affirms López.
According to the 33-year-old footballer, his coach had contacts in a Spanish team called Peñas Deportivas, where they needed footballers. His transfer was completed. However, the footballer trained for two weeks and they did not take it into account.
Then he had an opportunity at Inter Ibiza, a club founded in 2014, whose premise is to train boys to make the leap to professional teams in Spain. López did not receive a fixed salary, so, in parallel, he worked as a bricklayer and gardener.
“I worked in a construction, something that in Spain is not as difficult to achieve and not frowned upon as in South America. I also worked as a gardener and with that I earned USD 1,500 a month. That helped me to support my family ”.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic altered the plans of López and his wife. The player had to return to Colombia and the one who now supports the family financially is his wife, who also works at a friend’s house.
In his country, Rinson López tested himself at Deportivo Pasto, but admitted he was not in his best condition, so it didn’t work. “I lost the opportunity.”
Since then, the player has not been tested on more teams. You think that in your country it is difficult to knock on doors without an employer or representative. In addition, he is in an “advanced age” (33 years) in which without an agent “he has no power of conviction.”
López believes that the doors can be opened more in Ecuador than in Colombia, in the soccer aspect. “I think I have the conditions to return to Ecuador to play, I don’t see the reason why a club would not accept that I be part of the team“.
López does not neglect his physical condition. Train every day and play soccer with friends. However, he assured that it is not the same to train for a goal and with a greater demand.
During the pandemic, in which many people have been unemployed, social networks have become a tool to find work. López was not far behind. Therefore, on January 20, through his Twitter account, asked for help finding a club.
