COMMERCE CITY, Colo. - Colorado Rapids 2 have signed forward Alec Díaz ahead of the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro season, the club announced today.
“Alec gives us much needed experience in our attacking group. During his time with the group in preseason, he has proven to be more than a talented attacker, he is also a great cultural fit for the club,” said Brian Crookham, Rapids 2 General Manager.
Díaz, 22, joins Rapids 2 after spending two seasons with MLS NEXT Pro side Toronto FC II. In his first year with the club, Díaz recorded two goals and one assists in 15 appearances with the team and helped them to a third place finish in the Eastern Conference. In Toronto’s most recent season, Díaz scored the third most goals on the team with five to his name on top of one assist in his 17 matches on the pitch.
A product of the Seattle Sounders FC Academy, Díaz played four seasons with Tacoma Defiance, scoring 12 goals and adding five assists in 58 appearances for Seattle’s second team. In 2020, the forward scored a team-high six goals and added two assists in 13 appearances. He notably earned two United Soccer League (USL) Championship Team of the Week selections during the 2020 regular season.
While playing with the Sounders Academy during the 2017-18 U.S. Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) season, the Puerto Rican scored 35 goals in 36 games across competitions with both the U-17s and U-19s and led the U-17 squad to their first-ever title in the USSDA National Championship. He notably scored both the game-winning goals in the national championship match against Atlanta United’s Academy and against New York Red Bulls Academy to claim the Generation adidas Cup Premier Division in the same season.
On the international stage, Díaz made his debut for the Puerto Rico Men’s National Team on September 5, 2019, during an international friendly against Honduras. He has since made eight caps with the senior national team, including two appearances in 2021 during the group stage of FIFA World Cup CONCACAF qualifiers, two appearances in 2022 during the group stage of CONCACAF Nations League and one appearance in 2023 during Gold Cup qualifiers. He also represented Puerto Rico at the 2020 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifiers, where he started all three of the team’s games and scored two goals against Cayman Islands on February 19, 2020, in group stage play.
TRANSACTION: Colorado Rapids 2 sign forward Alec Díaz on March 1, 2024.
Alec Díaz
Position: Forward
Height: 5-9
Weight: 154 lbs
Birthdate: December 7, 2001
Birthplace: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Nationality: Puerto Rico
