Alan Pulido

Alan Pulido Izaguirre (born 8 March 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City.

Pulido made his debut with Tigres UANL in an official competition in 2009 playing in that year's edition of the SuperLiga tournament, playing the entirety of the match against Major League Soccer side Chivas USA on 20 June, scoring in the 11th minute as Tigres UANL won 2–1.

Tigres UANL would reach the final to face against Chicago Fire, and won 4–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw.

Pulido started his career with Tigres UANL in 2010.

On 27 February 2010, Pulido made his debut in the Primera División coming on as a substitute after the half-time break in the 0–3 defeat to Monarcas Morelia.

He has been called up to participate in the 2011 Copa América and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

He scored his first league goal on 13 April 2011 in the 4–2 win over Pachuca at the Estadio Universitario.

Pulido scored the third goal in the 3–1 second-leg victory of the 2011 Apertura Final against Santos Laguna on 11 December, winning his first league title and helping secure the club's third league title, the first in over thirty years.

Throughout the tournament, Pulido was subdued to a substitute role, behind first-choice striker Héctor Mancilla, and received limited playing time.

Contractual disputes with Tigres UANL following the summer of 2014 resulted in him making no appearances for the 2014 Apertura tournament.

He was a pivotal piece in the club's winning of the Clausura 2014 Copa MX, where he finished with the tournament's top scorer, scoring 11 times within 10 matches.

After participating with the Mexico national football team at the 2014 World Cup, Pulido was meant to rejoin Tigres to prepare for the upcoming 2014 Apertura tournament.

He completed the campaign with six games played and one goal scored as Levadiakos finished 14th in the table

In February 2015, he would appear with Greek club Levadiakos and eventually join Olympiacos in the summer of the same year.

On 29 January 2015, it was reported that Pulido had signed a one-and-a-half year contract with Greek club Levadiakos, with the deal being confirmed by both Pulido – who announced the transfer via his Twitter account – and the club.

However that same day, Tigres issued a press release declaring that CAS had ruled in their favor and would reject the transfer, with the court stating that ‘there is not a risk of irreparable damage to the player, because such damage, if exists, is caused by the player himself who decided not to re-join Tigres’.

Pulido's request for a provisional transfer had also been denied by CAS, though another request was submitted to FIFA.

On 2 February, Pulido participated in his first training session with Levadiakos.

On 27 February, a provisional transfer was granted to Pulido by FIFA's Player's Status Committee, thus allowing him to play for Levadiakos while the legal dispute continued.

On 9 March 2015, Pulido scored on his official league debut with Levadiakos in the 3–1 win against Platanias, and was named man of the match.

On 3 July 2015, Olympiacos announced the signing of Pulido from Levadiakos.

Prior to the move, Mexican club Guadalajara claimed they had purchased fifty percent of the player's rights during the annual league draft, and were awaiting on a verdict from the resolution from CAS in favor of Tigres UANL, who as a result could negotiate with Guadalajara over Pulido.

In August 2016, he joined Liga MX club Guadalajara for a then-club record fee of US$7.15 million.

After alleged interest from several European clubs, among them Greek side Olympiacos, Pulido stated that his contract with Tigres had ended and was thus a free agent, though club personnel claimed Pulido had signed a contract extension that would keep him with the club until June 2016.

Pulido did not attend any of the club's pre-season training sessions and was separated from the first team and sent to train with the reserves as a result, with Pulido also failing to appear at the training sessions.

He subsequently did not participate in the Apertura tournament.

In November of that year, Pulido and his representative started a legal dispute against Tigres via the Mexican Football Federation, claiming the signature on the addendum of the contract was falsified.

The Federation ultimately ruled in favor of Tigres, though another complaint was filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On 13 January 2016, Pulido started his first match for Olympiacos in the Greek Cup match against Chania, scoring the fifth goal in the 6–0 victory.

On 18 January, he made his debut with the club in the Super League in a 0–0 draw game against Platanias.

Five days later, Pulido played all 90 minutes and scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Xanthi.

On 28 February, Pulido scored the third goal in the 3–0 win over Veria, meaning Olympiacos won the league with six matches to spare, 21 points clear of second-place AEK Athens.

On 30 August 2016 it was announced that Pulido was returning to Mexico to play for Guadalajara for a reported US$7.15 million(€6 million), making Pulido Guadalajara's most expensive signing at the time.

Pulido made his league debut with Guadalajara on 10 September, coming on as a substitute in the second half in a 2–0 victory over Chiapas.

The following week, he scored his first goal with the club in a 2–1 loss against Toluca.

In April 2017, Guadalajara won the Clausura Copa MX final against Monarcas Morelia after defeating them in a penalty shoot-out in which he scored.

The following month, the Clausura championship was disputed against his former club, Tigres UANL.

In the first leg at Estadio Universitario, he scored the first goal in a 2–2 draw.

Winning a league Double, the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League, and various individual awards, Pulido joined Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City for another record fee of US$9.5 million.

Pulido has represented the U-20, U-23, and senior national teams.