Luis Tejada

Early career

Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side Deportes Tolima. Later on he was transferred to first division team Envigado in 2004, and after a splendid participation in the Gold Cup, he set off to the United Arab Emirates. In 2005, he signed a three-year contract to send him to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates. However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the AFC Champions League, and he returned to Panama. Returning to Panama, he participated in the Clausura Championship with Plaza Amador, one of the best teams in the local league, but he only participated in a few matches. His conditioning was not optimal, and he acquired the nickname of "Gordito (fatty)". Growing into better form, he moved on to Colombia, where he played a short spell with ex Copa Libertadores champions Once Caldas, from which he was fired for disciplinary problems. He then returned to Panama to play for Plaza Amador. Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Tejada on 12 December 2006, for the 2007 season. He played only two minutes in five games, however, before he was released by head coach Jason Kreis in early June. He returned to Panamanian side Tauro for a very brief stint, scoring four goals in four matches.

America de Cali

In August 2007, Tejada was signed…

Tejada made his debut for Panama in a June 2001 friendly against Trinidad and Tobago and, until his international retirement in 2018, earned a total of 108 caps, scoring 43 goals. This made him Panama's all-time record goalscorer, just ahead of Blas Pérez. Tejada represented his country in 34 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, and in March 2005, he scored a goal from an overhead kick against Mexico in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match to draw Panama level with the CONCACAF giants. This goal was voted the best goal of the year by Fox Sports. Tejada led Panama to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, where they finished as runners-up to the United States. He scored three goals to end up as joint top scorer, but unfortunately, he missed his penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against the United States in the final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for his efforts. Tejada is currently the all-time leading scorer in Panama history. Tejada was ejected from the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi final against Mexico after receiving a red card. In May 2018, he was named in Panama's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

International

Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tejada goal.

Juan Aurich

Peruvian First Division: 2011 Panama

CONCACAF Gold Cup runner-up: 2005; third place: 2015 Individual

CONCACAF Gold Cup MVP: 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Top Goalscorer: 2005