Background and career
Héctor Miguel Herrera López (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈeɣtoɾ eˈreɾa]; born 19 April 1990) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as midfielder for Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo. Herrera made his professional debut with Pachuca, spending three years at the club before transferring to Portuguese side Porto. Over a six-year spell with Porto, he made more than 200 appearances across all competitions and won a Primeira Liga title. He subsequently joined Atlético Madrid, where he captured a La Liga championship, before later playing for Houston Dynamo and Toluca. On the international stage, Herrera made over 100 appearances for the national team. He represented Mexico at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2022, and at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he became a gold medalist.
Herrera began playing football for C.F. Pachuca's youth sides. As a youth, he was nicknamed Zorrillo (skunk), as well as Zorro (fox). Herrera made his professional debut for Pachuca on 21 July 2010 in a 0–1 defeat to Major Soccer League side Chivas USA in a 2010 North American SuperLiga match. Herrera made his league debut for Pachuca in a 1–4 home defeat to Santos Laguna on 23 July 2011. Appearing 14 times for Pachuca in the 2011 Apertura, he was a shortlist candidate for best rookie of the tournament.
On 28 June 2013, it was announced that Herrera was transferred to Portuguese club Porto for €8 million. Herrera was an unused substitute in his first season's opening Super Cup match against Vitória de Guimarães on 10 August, ultimately winning 3–0. Eight days later, Herrera made his Primeira Liga debut, coming on as a substitute for Lucho González in the 82nd minute in Porto's 3–1 victory over Vitória de Setúbal. On 6 October, Herrera played his first 90 minutes in Porto's 3–1 away win over Arouca. On 18 September, Herrera made his UEFA Champions League debut against Austria Wien in a 1–0 group stage victory. On 22 October, Herrera set a new UEFA Champions League record for the fastest dismissal for two yellow cards when he was sent off in the sixth minute of the group stage match against Zenit Saint Petersburg. Herrera scored his first league goal with Porto on 20 December in a 4–0 win against Olhanense, scoring on a volley just eight minutes after coming on as a substitute. In his first season with Porto, Herrera played in 17 league matches, and in 33 across all competitions, scoring three goals in total, all of which were scored in the league.
On 20 August 2014, Herrera scored his first goal in Champions League play in Porto's 1–0 win over Lille. On 25 November, he played an important role in Porto's 3–0 Champions League away win over Belarusian club BATE Borisov, scoring the first goal of the game and providing two assists, all in the second-half. Herrera was included in The Guardian's year end list of "The 100 Best Footballers in the World". On 22 August 2015, Herrera scored his first goal of the season in Porto's 1–1 draw against Marítimo at the Estádio dos Barreiros. In December, Herrera was given the Dragão de Ouro Award as the team's best player of the previous season, the first Mexican to win the honour. On 12 February 2016, Herrera, wearing the captain's arm-band, scored the equalizer in Porto's 2–1 win over archrivals Benfica. Herrera was called up for the final of the Taça de Portugal against Braga on 22 May 2016, playing in the 120 minutes of the match and failing to convert his penalty shot in the subsequent 3–2 shoot-out defeat. On 15 April 2018, Porto defeated Benfica 1–0 at the Estádio da Luz, with Herrera scoring in the 90th minute from a shot outside the box. The win took Porto to the top of the table with 76 points, two ahead of Benfica with four matches remaining in the season. His goal was ultimately voted as the season's best. On 5 May, after a 0–0 draw between Benfica and Sporting CP, Porto won the league title with two games left to play. Herrera featured in the season's Team of the Year, one of five Porto players included.
On 4 August 2018, Herrera began the 2018–19 season captaining Porto in their 3–1 win over Aves to clinch the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. On 22 September, Herrera made his 200th appearance for Porto in all competitions following a 2–0 victory over Vitória Setúbal. In March 2019, he captained Porto in their 4–3 aggregate victory over Roma in the Champions League round of 16, with Porto reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2014–15 competition. On 30 March, Herrera, in captaining Porto to a 3–2 victory against Braga, made his 237th appearance in all competitions for the Dragões, placing him fifth in the club's all-time list of appearances by a foreign player, four games behind Lucho González. Amid reports linking him to Atlético Madrid, Porto president Pinto da Costa confirmed Herrera would leave the club on the expiration of his contract. On 18 May, Herrera scored in his final Primeira Liga game with Porto in the team's 2–1 victory over Sporting CP, scoring a scissor kick from a corner kick. He was again included in the season's Team of the Year.
On 3 July 2019, Atlético Madrid announced via their website that they had reached an agreement with Herrera. He signed a three-year contract, and was officially presented at the Wanda Metropolitano with the number 16 shirt. After failing to appear for Los Rojiblancos in the first month of the season, he made his competitive debut on 18 September, coming on as a late substitute for Thomas Partey and scoring the equalizer in the 90th minute to salvage a 2–2 draw against Juventus in the opening group game of the UEFA Champions League. Three days later, Herrera made his debut in La Liga as a starter against Celta de Vigo, playing 60 minutes in a scoreless draw. He was a starter in both Supercopa de España matches against Barcelona and Real Madrid, finishing runner-up against the latter in the final. He made 30 appearances across all competitions in his debut season with Atlético, though his playing time was mostly hampered due to injuries. At the start of the 2020–21 season Herrera was on a positive run of form, featuring eight times in all competitions and starting in the team's last four games prior to the international break, before being ruled out of action in November. It was reported that he had suffered a grade two injury to his left thigh while on international duty with Mexico, and would be out of action for a month. On his return on 1 December, Herrera, with 47, surpassed Javier Hernández as the Mexican with most UEFA Champions League appearances, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 group stage draw against Bayern Munich. He again faced a spell on the sidelines, both due to injury and testing positive for COVID-19 in February. In December 2021, Herrera tested positive for COVID-19 a second time.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
