Froylán Ledezma

Football player infobox| playername= Froylan Ledezma
fullname = Froylan Ledezma Stevens
nickname = El Cachorro
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|01|02
cityofbirth = La Uruca, San Jose
countryofbirth = Costa Rica
height = 181cm
weight = 91 kg
currentclub = Flagicon|AustriaVfB Admira Wacker Mödling
clubnumber = 8
position = Forward
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1995-97 1997-01 2001 2002-2003 2003 2003-2006 2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-
clubs = LD Alajuelense Ajax Amsterdam Cerro Porteño The Strongest Deportivo Saprissa LD Alajuelense Akratitos SCR Altach FC Augsburg VfB Admira Wacker Mödling
caps(goals) =70 (35) 1 8 (27) 13 (3) 24 (5) 18 (3)
03 (0)
nationalyears = 1999-
nationalteam = Costa Rica
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = September 30, 2008
ntupdate = 20 June 2006

Froylán Ledezma Stevens, sometimes spelled Froilán.(born January 2, 1978 in San José) is a Costa Rican international soccer striker. His nickname is "El Cachorro", which is translates to "The Puppy", because he gained international attention when he was only 17 years old.

He debuted in the Costa Rican league at the age of 16 with LD Alajuelense. In the 1995/96 season he scored 14 goals and played 41, and followed up the next season with 21 goals in 27 matches. 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. However, the promising youngster became no success in Dutch football, only playing twice for Ajax. He was suspended by Ajax after his first season until his contract ended (almost three years later.) Signed for Cerro Porteño but after a poor disciplinary record he was released. Then played in Bolivia with The Strongest, he soon became an important piece of the starting line-up, playing the Copa Libertadores but he got into a fight during a practice with one of his teammates and was released again. Signed for Saprissa but lasted only less than a half of a season because of his lack of production. Afterwards he returned to LD Alajuelense and became league champion in 2004/05 and CONCACAF's champion in 2005. He started up the 2005-06 season with LD Alajuelense but was loan to Greek team Akratitos for a period of 6 months (1/1/2006-30/6/2006), 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.

With his national team he played in 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, held in Malaysia, and won the UNCAF Nations Cup with Costa Rica in 1999. He was also part of the team at the beginning of the road to the World Cup in 2002, held in Germany.

External links

* [http://touchline.onthespot.co.uk/guardian/StatsCentre.asp?pStr=Player&plid=9541&cust=&lang=0&teid=6454&cpid=8&ctid=4 Profile & Statistics] at Guardian's Stats Centre