Froylán Ledezma

Froylán Greing Ledezma Stephens (born 2 January 1978) is a retired Costa Rican international football forward.

Froylán Ledezma
Froylan Ledezma in 2009
Personal information
Full name Froylán Greing Ledezma Stephens
Date of birth (1978-01-02) 2 January 1978
Place of birth San José, Costa Rica
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 Alajuelense 70 (35)
1997–2001 Ajax 0 (0)
2001–2002 Cerro Porteño 1 (0)
2002–2003 Saprissa 14 (9)
2003 The Strongest 13 (8)
2004–2006 Alajuelense 41 (9)
2006 → Akratitos (loan) 13 (3)
2006–2007 Rheindorf Altach 24 (5)
2007–2008 FC Augsburg 18 (3)
2008–2010 Admira Wacker 24 (9)
2010 → Herediano (loan) 13 (6)
2011 Admira Wacker 13 (4)
2012 Alajuelense 4 (1)
National team
1997 Costa Rica U20
1997–2009 Costa Rica 22 (6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Ledezma and the second or maternal family name is Stephens.

He is nicknamed as El Cachorro which means "The Puppy".[1]

Club career

A strong, quick and explosive striker,[2] he debuted in the Costa Rican league on 14 January 1995 at the age of 17 with Alajuelense against Municipal Pérez Zeledón.[3] In the 1995–96 season, he scored 14 goals and played 41 games, and followed up the next season with 21 goals in 27 matches.

Ajax

He was scouted by Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam and after that, invited for a trial by their big rivals Feyenoord. But Ajax signed him in 1997 for around 4.5 million euros in spectacular fashion after 'kidnapping' him from Amsterdam Airport under Feyenoord's nose.[4] However, the promising youngster was not a success in Dutch football, only playing twice for Ajax. He was suspended by Ajax for indiscipline after his first season until his contract ended (almost three years later).

South America

In 2001, he signed for Cerro Porteño but was not eligible to play immediately since Ajax had not formally released him.[5] In February 2002 he broke his foot in a warm-up match in Chile while also being overweight[6] and in May 2002 he was taken in custody shortly after he was involved in a fight with traffic police outside a bar where he had wrongly parked his car.[7]

Afterwards, he went back to Costa Rica where he surprisingly signed for Saprissa (Alajuelense's archrival).[8] After Saprissa, he played in Bolivia with The Strongest, he soon became an important piece of the starting line-up, playing in the Copa Libertadores. He became only the third Costa Rican to score in the Libertadores after netting in February 2003 against Uruguayan side Fénix.[9]

Alajuelense

Afterwards he returned to Alajuelense amid more controversy when The Strongest claimed Ledezma owed them money for his rights after he walked away on the club.[10] With Liga he became CONCACAF Champions' Cup's champion in 2004. Ledezma became part of the starting line-up and led the team to their league championship in the 2004–05 season. He started the 2005–06 season with Alajuelense but was suspended by the Costa Rican FA for three months in June 2005 for leaving the national team set-up without permission.[11] He then was loaned to Greek team Akratitos for six months (January – June 2006),[12] then he was bought by Austrian club SC Rheindorf Altach. He had an acceptable campaign and by the end of the season he was sold again to FC Augsburg.[13]

Admira Wacker Mödling

On a quick transaction he was transferred to VfB Admira Wacker Mödling. More controversy here, however, as he was sent back to the reserves team in October 2009 and he claimed the club owed him 3 months wages.[14]

In 2009, after Costa Rica's national team's poor performance under Hernán Medford's direction, a new head coach, Rodrigo Kenton, was hired and he called Ledezma back to the national team where he had a quite good performance.

Ledezma was released from VfB Admira Wacker Mödling and joined Costa Rican club Herediano in June 2010.[15] only to leave them after just five months[16] as he rejoined VfB Admira Wacker Mödling.[17] He started playing well in Austrian second division and he won along with his team the promotion to the 1st league. He played just a few games as substitute in the 2011 season but then he suffered a shoulder injury which left him out of play for around four months.

Final season

After he recovered from the injury, he decided to end his contract with VfB Admira Wacker Mödling and to move back to Costa Rica to play with Alajuelense.[18] He announced his retirement in August 2012 after failing to regain full fitness.[19]

International career

Ledezma played for Costa Rica in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Malaysia.[20]

He made his senior debut for Costa Rica in a September 1997 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Jamaica[21] and earned a total of 22 caps, scoring 6 goals. He helped his country win the UNCAF Nations Cup 1999[22] and has also appeared in three qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup[20] and 6 qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[20] He also played at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[23]

His final international was a September 2009 FIFA World Cup qualification match against El Salvador.

Retirement

Ledezma retired after the 2012 summer tournament. In January 2014 he was injured in a car accident near Orotina.[24]

Honours
  • Primera División de Costa Rica:
    • 1995–96, 1996–97, 2004–05
  • Copa Interclubes UNCAF:
    • 1996, 2005
  • UNCAF Nations Cup:
    • 1999
  • Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano:
    • 2003-C
  • CONCACAF Champions' Cup:
    • 2004

Career statistics

International goals
Scores and results list. Costa Rica's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.17 March 1999Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica Belize3–07–0UNCAF Nations Cup
2.17 March 1999Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica Belize4–07–0UNCAF Nations Cup
3.4 June 2004Carlos Ugalde Álvarez, San Carlos, Costa Rica Nicaragua2–15–1Friendly
4.6 September 2008Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica Suriname1–07–0World Cup qualifier
5.6 September 2008Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica Suriname2–07–0World Cup qualifier
6.23 July 2009Soldier Field, Chicago, United States Mexico1–11–1CONCACAF Gold Cup
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References
  1. El Cachorro piensa en el retiro - Nación (in Spanish)
  2. El buzón de Rodrigo - Nación (in Spanish)
  3. Froylán Ledezma, genio y figura - Al Día (in Spanish)
  4. Ledezma wil de beste van Ajax worden - Trouw (in Dutch)
  5. Froylán fuera de Cerro Porteño - Nación (in Spanish)
  6. "El Cachorro" se fracturó un pie - Nación (in Spanish)
  7. Delantero Froylan Ledezma detenido por lío al estacionar vehículo - Nación (in Spanish)
  8. Campeonato 2002-2003: Saprissa, apuesta al equilibrio - Nación (in Spanish)
  9. ANOTÓ EN LA LIBERTADORES Froylán dictó sentencia - Nación (in Spanish)
  10. Piden ¢27 millones por Froylán Ledezma - Nación (in Spanish)
  11. Rebajan a tres meses suspensión contra Froylán Ledezma - Nación (in Spanish)
  12. Cuatro jugadores costarricenses se marchan al fútbol griego - Nación (in Spanish)
  13. Froylán tendrá una nueva opción de lavarse la cara - Nación (in Spanish)
  14. Artillero responde a críticas de su equipo Froylán Ledezma: “No estoy desaparecido” - Nación (in Spanish)
  15. Froylán Ledezma llega al Herediano - Nación (in Spanish)
  16. Froylán Ledezma se va de Herediano - Nación (in Spanish)
  17. Froylán Ledezma regresa a Austria Archived 10 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine - Nación (in Spanish)
  18. Froylán Ledezma regresa a Alajuelense - Nación (in Spanish)
  19. Froylán Ledezma confirmó su retiro del futbol - Nación (in Spanish)
  20. Froylán Ledezma – FIFA competition record
  21. Luz verde a Froylán - Nación (in Spanish)
  22. Courtney, Barrie (29 November 2003). "Costa Rica – Details International Matches 1993–2003". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
  23. CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2009 - Full Details Archived 26 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine - RSSSF
  24. Froylán Ledezma resulta herido tras chocar su vehículo contra tráiler en Orotina - Nación (in Spanish)
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