Mexican soccer star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is joining Atletico Dallas.
Hernandez is the first player signed by the USL Championship expansion club, which will begin play next year in the second tier of U.S. professional soccer, below Major League Soccer. Hernandez signed a two-year-deal with an option for a third year, Dallas announced on Monday.
Hernandez said he’s grateful to still be playing soccer.
“This is just a luxury that I can say that I came back to the USL being the face of this project, trying to help develop not only this project, but the USL in a better way, you know, to help this country that is growing since 1994 (the previous World Cup hosted by the U.S). Amazingly so for me personally, it’s because I think my career and my feelings deserve to end my career being happy. That’s it; I don’t. Of course we care. I was going to say, I don’t care if I score goals. Of course we want to. We want Chicharito to score goals and win games, you know, and qualify for the playoffs and maybe win championships in the first year. You know, of course that’s the goal. And that’s always going to be there. The competitors. I want that. Not me. To the competitor side in me, it’s a switch that you cannot turn on and off. It’s impossible. It’s something that is very, very, very deep,” Hernandez said. “So I want to end up having fun and joy and be so grateful, passionate to have it like that. So that’s why that was the reason that we started conversations with them, for example. But then they look to read that I have because people don’t see it like that. The luxury that I have at my age… I don’t think there are so many players when they’re 38 years old that they want to bet on to be the face of the franchise, to put that responsibility on your shoulders, to trust that I’m going to get my fitness back, that I don’t have my momentum back, then I have all of that. Wow, that means a lot. So that’s why I want to be very prudent in my decision. But particularly was a yeah, I almost think it’s going to be headlines, but I almost started resenting this sport rather than being grateful. And that’s why I came back to say no, I mean football, I mean the career that I had so far. And this is going to be an amazing chapter, too, that is going to just start unfolding, deserves to have a better feeling inside myself and then as well, outside.”
Hernandez previously played for Manchester United in the English Premier League, where he won the 2010 FA Community Shield, and Real Madrid in La Liga (Spain), where he rarely played. Chicharito means “little pea.” He wanted to bring the love of world football to soccer-loving Americans.
“Football is already huge around the world, even though we are here in the U.S., and we need to respect it. And I always answer soccer and football. You know, I always implement both words so they can understand. But I think it’s a sport that American people need to embrace rather than change it, you know, because football is, I mean he’s the most followed sport, and we saw in the World Cup the most beloved sport in the whole world, and even the USA is huge. It’s an amazing country. And that’s why I’m living here. And the USA has been part of my life for so long. You know, my daughter is it was born here as well. So this country means a lot. But speaking of that, it’s football. You know, we can help some American people to understand that. Yeah. Still soccer, but I think it’s football,” Hernandez said.
The 38-year-old forward is the all-time leading scorer for the Mexican national team with 52 goals. Hernandez last played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He was a broadcaster for the 2026 World Cup.
Hernandez said part of his purpose in the USL is elevating soccer in the U.S.
“The U.S. after 1994, what they decided is like, of course you need to have a pyramid, you know, like we’re building a house. And for that you need to start with a foundation. Right. But the MLS saw another type, and they decided to start from the top of the pyramid. You know, try to get as many teams by players getting stars, getting exposure, getting everything. So then I think we are now in a moment where I’m going to say there are very good universities and schools and people to, to develop players, you know, underneath the surface. And then you can still have stars. You know, we see a Lionel Messi with Inter Miami; Casemiro, just to put an example. There are so many, you know,” Hernandez said. “The USL, these other leagues that they have, that’s what they need to develop. That’s what they need to be there. So you can have a lot of players over there. Because then I was in the MLS as well. For example, in (Los Angeles) Galaxy, that middle class was the, the, for example, the players that we, that we lacked to get the championships. And then LAFC did it amazingly, and then other teams did it. You can have stars, you have amazing prospects, but you have middle players. You know that they can give you so much that they’re not even stars yet. But they’re not young anymore. So I think that’s why the USL and that’s why this attracts me so much, because to fulfill the whole pyramid, for example, that’s what you need. That’s something that, for example, in Mexico they stopped with promotion and relegation.”
Hernandez previously was captain for MLS’ Galaxy.
Hernandez believes that the suspension of promotion/relegation hurt Mexican soccer.
“You can see that they don’t develop as many players now, not even to export them to play in teams, because now the players don’t have the opportunity to have an amazing season and then play in the First Division, because that was the past,” Hernandez said. “So that’s something that, of course, in the MLS with USL promotion/relegation, that’s that conversation for later if you want to, but I think the USL needs to have better development of football players and not only bringing stars, let’s call it like that. No, not having only amazing managers, but it’s the combination of all; you know this league needs to grow. So a lot of players can come, and then the whole country can improve, not only in the MLS.”
Hernandez said he will be ready to go despite turning 39 next June; he’s also not worried about traveling by bus or playing in smaller stadiums, possibly on turf.
“Hey. My body, I mean, it’s going to be completely prepared,” Hernandez said. “We’re going to travel as they tell us to travel. And then for the rest, I think we’re going to adapt, and we’re going to figure out any solution…You know, the most important part over here is to be available. With all of these, I mean, we have a lot of talented people. They’re going to get a lot of talented people as well to help us in recovery, travel-wise. I think I’m not I’m not concerned about that. And then with the turf, I’ve been playing turf in the MLS before, in different types of stadiums. I mean, people forget sometimes. I don’t forget I grew up training in dust, literally, you know, without even grass. So I played there for ten years, you know, and I was training over there. So yeah, I mean we are blessed. We are lucky. We see everything as an obstacle. I mean, your life is going to be like that, but if you see it more as an opportunity, as I see it, I mean, it’s going to be a good opportunity. I’m going to try to adapt as much as I can and as quickly as I can to everything. Because the important part here is Atlético Dallas. And of course, to give back to these people who trust in you in the best way possible.”
Hernandez said the goal is perfection, even if it’s impossible.
“I don’t believe the perfect team exists. Not even Spain was perfect. You know, they conceded one goal,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes the losses don’t mean that you’re doing badly, you know. So I think it’s about the process. It’s about every single day. The other day, I don’t know. With whoever I was, I was talking to, yeah, I think it was yesterday before I met the Trinity team, you know, with the girls and everything. We were talking, and they asked me something about, like, what do you miss the most? And what I said is, like, people forget that. For example, I don’t know how many games we’re going to play in the USL. Let’s put a number: 50. No, we just play 50 days. But training sessions are going to be double or triple. So football and our life is not about stadiums; it’s about the daily basis. They wake up, they go to the locker room to train, to do the tedious things, sometimes to run, to do things they don’t feel comfortable doing.”
Hernandez said he’s ready to get back on the field for the first time since 2025 and learn more about the game he loves.
“How you form chemistry, building momentum, fitness-wise, etc. So that’s the most important part. The most important part of a team is what you don’t always see,” Hernandez said. “Something that I never stop doing. And I hope it’s not the occasion over here. It’s like learning. We all learn. It doesn’t matter if I’m 38 years old; I’m going to be learning from a young guy, learning from everybody.”
Hernandez has been banned from the Mexican national team since 2019 after he, alongside other players, organized an unauthorized party in New York after a game against the United States.
The veteran striker posted on Instagram Monday that he’d landed in Dallas, “and now it’s home.”
Hernandez made headlines last year after receiving backlash for comments he made about gender roles.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who called the comments “very sexist,” and other influential leaders urged Hernandez to focus on soccer. Sheinbaum, a 63-year-old scientist, was elected as the first female president in the country’s 200-year history.
Atletico Dallas’ next game is in spring 2027. The team will share the Cotton Bowl in Dallas with Trinity FC.
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