Mikey Lopez has won championships, shared the pitch with such all-time luminaries as Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard, and most recently, helped bring soccer to the hearts of Portland fans everywhere.
Today, Lopez, 33, announced he is retiring after 14 years of professional soccer following the Portland Hearts of Pine’s final match of the season on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
“My body hasn’t been feeling the way that it should be, and it’s kind of been hindering me and my ability to play the way I want to play,” Lopez said in a Zoom call with The Hearts’ Beat. “It’s just frustrating. I think it’s just my body telling me that it’s time.”
Lopez helped the University of North Carolina win a national championship as a freshman in 2011. Sporting Kansas City selected him 14th overall in the first round of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. Lopez played for three seasons in Kansas City before moving to New York City FC for two more seasons. He then continued his career with San Antonio FC and Birmingham Legion FC before eventually joining the Hearts in Portland’s inaugural season in 2025.
The road to Portland wasn’t an easy one. Lopez missed the entire 2024 season with Birmingham after a pair of surgeries on his Achilles tendon before his return earned him 2025 USL League One Comeback Player of the Year honors. This year, he also battled a knee injury that caused him to miss time.
He finishes his career with 12 goals in 285 appearances, taking the pitch in MLS, the higher-level USL Championship and USL League One, where Portland competes. Beyond taking home the college title, he also won an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup with Sporting KC. During a career that enabled him to play with Pirlo and Lampard (including starting a playoff match over Lampard), he was coached by former French national team star Patrick Vieira.
But to truly understand Lopez’s soccer journey, one has to go back to seventh grade when he attended St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, which was one of four full-time soccer academies in the United States. That’s where he first met Bobby Murphy, the then-director of the soccer academy and future Hearts coach, who two decades later would bring Lopez to play for Portland.
Asked what it means to come full circle, Lopez replied, “Honestly, a dream come true. I didn’t think it would be possible, but I’m super thankful that it is, because Bobby has always been another father figure for me.
“I love that guy so much and to be able to be coached by him when I was young, and then again now as a professional and as a man, it means the world to me, and to be able to finish my career with him here as my coach is the perfect ending for my playing career.”
Lopez made a career out of being a stalwart at defensive midfield. He wasn’t flashy, he didn’t score lots of goals, but he locked down the middle of the field while often providing the glue that kept teams together.
The only goal he scored with the Hearts was a dramatic stoppage-time winner in the 90’+1’ to complete a 3-2 comeback victory against FC Naples on July 3. Lopez joked that Murphy could no longer tease him about having never seen him score in person before.
“But that goal is special because it was also the last time my grandpa saw me play and score,” Lopez said. “He passed away two days after, so it’s something that I’ll always remember, and I’ll always think about.”
Twice, Lopez was chosen to be the captain of new teams just starting out in a league, first in 2019 for Birmingham Legion in the USL Championship, and then last season with Portland.
“I just hope that I left a legacy that no matter where you’re from … that you gotta work hard every single day and make the best out of everything,” Lopez said.
In addition to his role on the field and in the clubhouse, Lopez always wanted to work with the local community. Last year, he was honored with the first-ever Lead With Your Heart Community Award.
“I just wanted to immerse myself in the community, and the best way to do that is just being a part of it, going to speak to kids in middle school, and showing them that their dreams aren’t impossible,” Lopez said. “I think that’s really cool, and I think the best way to be able to buy into a club is through the community. So if you can, if you can immerse yourself in the community, you have a better understanding, a better devotion or passion for the club, and for the people that you’re trying to represent.”
Last month, Lopez served as the keynote speaker at the annual Maine Immigration Forum. It took him outside of his normal comfort zone, and while he claimed to be nervous, he never showed it.
“I think it's important for professional athletes to use their platform because a lot of people don't have the platforms that we have,” Lopez said. “We can shed light on what’s going on in the world, on people that are going through things.”
For now, Lopez wants to play in the final match of his career, but he already has some ideas for the future.
“I want to get into coaching,” Lopez said. “So it’s just kind of seeing where it takes me. It’d be amazing if I could get something here, but I don’t know if that’ll happen. If it’s not here, then I gotta start looking elsewhere, and see where I land.”
Do you hear that, athletic directors of Maine? If you’re in need of a soccer coach, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone else here in Maine who is more passionate about soccer, more knowledgeable about the game, while also bringing the background of a player who has shared the field with the world’s best.
Lastly, Lopez was asked what he hopes for in that last match at Fitzy (Portland has been eliminated from playoff contention).
“I hope that we can win one more time for them, because they stuck with us through thick and thin, and there’s been a lot of thin moments this year, and they’ve never once left us, they’ve always stuck with us,” Lopez said. “I hope that that’s the feeling we can have one more time together.
“I want them to know that I’m super appreciative of everything that they’ve done for me, and for the team, and for the club, for always supporting us, and traveling every which way, every corner of this country, and always being there for us, and being super passionate, for the club, and for us.”
