Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernández is out to prove that fútbol really is life.
Fernández, 35, who played fan favorite Dani Rojas on the Apple TV+ soccer comedy, signed with El Paso Locomotive FC of the USL Championship League as a forward earlier this year, fulfilling a childhood dream.
“It’s crazy. I’m a crazy man,” Fernández exclusively told Us Weekly via his partnership with Tequila CAZADORES. “But I’ve just always done things because I want to, because I like to, because they come from the heart. There might be people who don’t agree, or maybe think I shouldn’t. Even sometimes people that care about me will be like, ‘Are you sure? Don’t do it.’”
Fernández said that since joining El Paso Locomotive for the 2026 season, some of his teammates have been quick to remind him of his Hollywood past.
“The other day during a game, accidentally I got hit and I fell down,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ And then some of my teammates were joking, ‘He’s an actor, he’s just making it up.’”
Friendly banter aside, Fernández said he’s quickly learned to love being in El Paso during an admittedly turbulent time for the border town politically.
“There’s lots of mountains, I love that it’s bilingual, multicultural,” he explained. “It’s a new city for me. Even in the crazy world we’re living in now — when we talk about borders and these aspects of immigration, it’s so horrible and not great — but it’s crazy being here. I’m driving in El Paso, I see Juárez [Mexico, across the border]. I’m driving in Juárez, I see El Paso. It’s a sense of community here at the border.”
He continued, “I love the city, I love the people. And I’m very excited for this year.”
While he might have hung up Dani Rojas’ cleats for now, Fernández’s former Ted Lasso castmates have been supporting his journey from afar nearly 20 years after a knee injury derailed his soccer when he was 15.
“We keep in touch,” he said. “Now that the news got announced that I could join the team officially, my friends at Ted Lasso messaged me. We have a WhatsApp group. They were all like, ‘Felicidades, amigo,’ ‘congrats,’ ‘all the best.’”
He added, “Everything happens for a reason, both good things and bad. But it all comes from Ted Lasso.”
One of those good things is Fernández’s partnership with Tequila CAZADORES and their “Carded by Cristo” campaign, which reimagines soccer’s yellow and red cards with a series of signature cocktail recipes.
“Football and tequila, there’s no better combination,” Fernández said. “Sports and good tequila bring people together. It’s all about celebration.”
Fans can visit the campaign website to get carded by Fernández digitally – and he’ll be making surprise appearances at watch parties throughout the summer.
“I like to celebrate with my family and friends when the moment is right,” he said. “Life is a balance. Everything’s not just black or white, there’s so many colors in between.”
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