Sergio López (footballer, born 1999)

Sergio López Galache (born 8 April 1999) is a Spanish-German dual national professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Darmstadt 98.

Early life
López was born in Remscheid, Germany, to German-born parents of Spanish descent; all four of his grandparents are Spanish. He holds both German and Spanish passports, and moved to Spain at the age of 4. In 2007, he began playing football with the academy of Salamanca before moving to the youth department of Santa Marta. In 2016 he again moved, joining the youth academy of Real Madrid.

Career
López began his senior career with the Real Madrid B side in the Tercera División. He joined Valladolid Promesas for the 2020–21 season. He made an appearance with the senior Real Valladolid side, in a 5–0 Copa del Rey win over CD Cantolagua on 15 December 2020.

On 23 June 2021, Swiss team Basel announced that they had signed López from Real Madrid. He had signed a three-year professional contract, keeping him at the club until summer 2024. He joined Basel's first team for their 2021–22 season under head coach Patrick Rahmen. After playing in five test games, López played his professional debut for the club on 22 July 2021. It was a home game in the St. Jakob-Park in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round as Basel won 3–0 against Partizani from Albanien. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the away in game in the Letzigrund on 25 July as Basel won 2–0 against Grasshopper Club. He scored his first league goal for his new club one week later in the home game on 1 August. It was the team's second goal of the match as Basel went on to win 6–1 against Sion. The team started well into the league season with seven victories and five draws before their first defeat. They ended the campaign as runners-up, they had achieved 15 victories and were defeated only four times. However, they had given away too many points, because they could only achieve a draw on 17 occasions. In the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League they won their group, but were knocked out in the round of 16 losing twice against Marseille. This season López totaled 40 appearances, 29 League, three Cup and eight Conference League. He scored two goals in these matches.

For their 2022–23 season Basel hired Alexander Frei as their new head coach. However, the season didn't start well, two defeats and three draws in the first six matches and things continued in that manor. On 28 September the club announced that, during training, as López made a misstep he had injured himself. MRI scans revealed that he had suffered a rupture of the anterior syndesmotic ligament on his right foot. The Spaniard would therefore out for the rest of the year, returning to the game at the end of January. In February Frei was replaced through Heiko Vogel, but at the end of the season Basel were in fifth position. In the 2022–23 Swiss Cup the team advancedas far as the semi-finals. In the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League the team were runners-up in their group, but advancing via the play-offs to the knockout phase and advanced as far as the semi-finals. Here they were matched against Fiorentina. Winning the first leg 2–1 away, they lost the second leg by the same score after 90 minutes. In the tenth minute of the added over-time in the second half of the extra time they conceded the decisive goal and were knocked out in the most bitter of ways. López totaled 37 appearances, 21 in the League, four in the Cup and 12 in the Conference League. He scored just one goal in these matches.

At the beginning of their 2023–24 season, after just three games López suffered in next injury. On the 11 August the club made the announcement that he had suffered a cruciate ligament rupture. He was out until the end of the year.

On 7 June 2024, López agreed to join 2. Bundesliga side Darmstadt 98 on the expiry of his contract with Basel, officially joining the German side on 1 July.