Football is life — and for Cristo Fernández, it's now also his day job. The Mexican actor best known for playing the exuberant, catchphrase-slinging Dani Rojas on Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso has officially signed a professional soccer contract with El Paso Locomotive FC, the city's USL Championship club. Yes, you read that right.
The news broke across virtually every major sports and entertainment outlet simultaneously — from The Athletic and The Guardian to ESPN, Fox News, BBC Sport, and USA Today — which tells you everything you need to know about how big this story has become. This isn't just a local sports story. This is a pop culture collision with American soccer, and it landed right here in the Sun City.
Fernández's signing is genuinely unprecedented. While Ted Lasso made soccer cool for millions of American viewers who might never have otherwise tuned into the sport, Cristo Fernández is now taking that influence a step further by lacing up his boots for real. El Paso Locomotive FC, a respected USL Championship side with a passionate and growing fanbase, now finds itself at the center of an international media moment.
For US soccer fans, this matters on multiple levels:
- Cultural crossover: Ted Lasso is widely credited with helping expand American soccer's mainstream appeal. Having one of its stars actually play the game professionally is a story that bridges the entertainment and sports worlds in a way rarely seen.
- USL in the spotlight: The USL Championship doesn't always command the media attention it deserves. This signing puts the second division of American soccer on front pages around the world — from New York to London.
- El Paso on the map: Locomotive FC has long punched above its weight on the field. Now the club is punching above its weight in the headlines, drawing global eyes to a passionate soccer market in far west Texas.
It's worth noting that Fernández is not simply a celebrity seeking a vanity contract. The actor has spoken publicly about his genuine love for the beautiful game, and his portrayal of Dani Rojas — a technically gifted, joyful forward — was rooted in real soccer knowledge and passion. Whether he can compete at the USL level remains to be seen, but the fact that a professional club has signed him suggests this is more than a publicity stunt.
For El Paso soccer fans, the timing couldn't be more exciting. Locomotive FC has built its identity around community, authenticity, and a love of the sport — values that align perfectly with everything Dani Rojas represented on screen. Seeing those values translated into a real-world signing feels almost too perfect.
Football is life. And right now, life is very, very good in El Paso.