Meet Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernández, who turned his on-screen footballer role into reality

Ted Lasso actor Cristo Fernández, who stars on the TV series as happy-go-lucky football player Dani Rojas, made his professional debut on the pitch last Saturday, playing for El Paso Locomotive FC in its ⁠USL Cup match against New Mexico United.

A favourite among Ted Lasso fans, Fernández’s character has a popular catchphrase, “Football is life”, and it seems that sentiment is also true for the 35-year-old actor, who served as a coin toss assistant at the Fifa World Cup 2026 in the match between Canada and South Africa on June 28.

With Season 4 of Ted Lasso set to premiere on August 5, here’s everything you need to know about actor – and El Paso Locomotive’s forward – Cristo Fernández.

When did Fernández start playing football?

Cristo Fernández was born on January 27, 1991, in Guadalajara, Mexico. He grew up loving football and played at youth level with Tecos FC in Mexico.

“My grandma and my mom used to say, ‘Cristóbal only speaks, breathes, talks, dreams, everything fútbol’ – soccer was literally my life,” Fernández told NBC News in an interview in 2021.

Unfortunately, Fernández’s plans of pursuing a professional football career were derailed by a serious knee injury, which forced him to step away from the sport at the age of 15.

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