Luis Mejía


Luis Ricardo Mejía Cajar is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional de Football|Nacional].

Club career

Nicknamed Manotas, Mejia made his professional debut playing with Tauro in 2007.
In 2008, he was transferred to Uruguayan side Centro Atlético Fénix, but finally made his team debut on 21 August 2010 on a match against Tacuarembó, being rewarded as the man of the match. His outstanding performances called the interest of various team of Europe.
In January 2011, he was loaned for 6 months to Toulouse but was never able to win a place in the first team, so he had to cope with playing in the reserve team.
Upon his return to Fénix in June 2011, he cemented his position in the starting lineup of the team. In the 2012–13 Uruguayan Primera División season, he played 27 games where they conceded 37 goals in the annual table and finished in seventh position, one spot away from qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana. In the 2013–14 championship he played 18 games where Fénix conceded 22 goals, again resulting in a seventh-place position.
After several impressive seasons as a top-performing goalkeeper in the Uruguayan top flight, Mejía signed for Club Nacional in 2015. For his first three seasons at the club, he was back-up goalkeeper to Esteban Conde, but obtained the starting position in the team for the 2018 season. In 2019, he made 24 league appearance as Nacional won their forty-seventh domestic title. After losing the starting role in the team to the Uruguayan international goalkeeper Sergio Rochet for the starting role in 2020, Mejía returned to Fénix for one season, and then left Uruguay for the first time since 2011 to join Unión Española for the 2022 Chilean Primera División.
He returned to Nacional in 2024, retaking the position as the primary goalkeeper in the team following Rochet's transfer to Internacional.

International career

Mejía was part of the Panama U-20 squad that participated in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. He was the youngest goalkeeper in the world cup and the revelation. He was also part of the Panama U-20 squad that participated in the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship where his outstanding performances led them to qualify to the Youth World Cup in Colombia.
His senior international debut for Panama came on 8 June 2009 against Jamaica, in a Friendly match.
He was part of the Panama U-23 squad that participated in the 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament which they could not qualify to the 2012 Summer Olympics.
In 2011, he was called up by Julio Dely Valdés to play the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
In the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, he played 2 matches and conceded 6 goals as Panama were eliminated in the group stage. Mejía was also called up for the 2023 version of the tournament, where his side finished as runners-up as they lost the final 1-0 against Mexico at SoFi Stadium, in which he was the back-up goalkeeper to first-choice Orlando Mosquera.
He was similarly a substitute goalkeeper for the 2024 Copa América, where Panama were eliminated in the quarterfinals, eventually losing to Colombia.

Honours

Club Nacional
Panama