Early career (1995–2002) Ruiz, born in
Guatemala City, Guatemala, started his footballing career in local club San Carlos. At the age of 12, he joined the youth divisions of Club Social y Deportivo
CSD Municipal, and at 16, he made his professional debut. He became a starter for Municipal and a young star in the
Guatemalan league until 2000, when he traveled to Europe to play for a short time alongside compatriot
Guillermo Ramírez at Greek club
PAS Giannina. After a stint with PAS, he returned to Municipal.
LA Galaxy (2002–2005) . In January 2002, Ruiz signed with the
Los Angeles Galaxy. He was initially skeptical, telling
The New York Times, "I didn't know anything about MLS or soccer in the U.S. Everything we hear about Major League Soccer is not so good ... we hear that all the players come here to finish their careers." However, he found the level to be better than he imagined, saying: "In the beginning, I was not happy to come here. But after a couple of games and when I see the level of soccer here, I was excited to play here." Once in MLS, Ruiz shone immediately. In his debut season in 2002, Ruiz scored 24 goals (winning the
MLS Golden Boot), leading the Galaxy to the
MLS Cup by scoring the 2nd
golden goal in MLS Cup history, a year after
Dwayne de Rosario was the first to accomplish the feat in 2001. He was named the
MLS Most Valuable Player that year. In the playoffs, he scored eight goals and added two assists, totaling 18 points and setting an MLS record for goals and points in a single postseason. Ruiz' overtime goal in extra time of
MLS Cup 2002 gave Galaxy the title. In his second season, Ruiz cooled off significantly, but the forward still finished the season tied with
Taylor Twellman for the league lead in goals with 15. He continued to statistically drop in 2004, scoring 11 goals. Ruiz had trials at English side
Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 2003–04 season.
FC Dallas (2005–2007) In 2005, when
Landon Donovan expressed his desire to return to MLS, the Galaxy traded Ruiz to
FC Dallas for the #1
allocation in the MLS pecking order, so that they could acquire Donovan. Ruiz finished his first year in Dallas with 11 goals and two assists. During the postseason in the conference semifinals, Ruiz scored two goals in the second leg match against the
Colorado Rapids, but FC Dallas were eliminated on
penalty kicks. In February 2006, MLS fully bought Ruiz's contract rights from his former club,
Municipal, and FC Dallas was able to negotiate a multi-year deal. In March 2006, a
bicycle kick goal he scored against
D.C. United was selected as the "Goal of the Decade" in MLS through online voting. During a 2007 game against the
Houston Dynamo, Ruiz was involved in a controversial incident with Houston midfielder
Ricardo Clark. Following a corner kick in which the two players became entangled, Clark violently kicked Ruiz in the upper body as he lay on the pitch hoping to draw a foul. Ruiz then hit Clark's back with his knee during the subsequent play, and both players were sent off, with Clark also receiving the longest suspension in league history. Following the conclusion of the
2007 season, Ruiz appeared to be unwilling to return to Dallas and to be holding out for a move back to the Galaxy. Earlier attempts to produce a trade faltered due to Ruiz being a
grandfathered Designated Player, with the Galaxy already having other players in the same situation (
Landon Donovan and
David Beckham). In January 2008, FC Dallas traded Ruiz to the Galaxy for an undisclosed cash allocation and the Galaxy's natural second-round pick in the following year's
MLS SuperDraft. At his departure, he said, "I did everything I could to win a championship with Dallas. Unfortunately, it did not happen."
Return to LA Galaxy and trade to Toronto FC (2008) He spoke about the Galaxy to
ESPN analyst Andrea Canales: "I still think the Galaxy is the best team in the U.S. They're the best organization. The Galaxy have always had famous players. They continue to be a team that people always follow," and added his personal relief to be on the Galaxy team, "I'm so glad I came to the Galaxy and not another team, because I would have felt like I was starting over." In the season opener, however, Ruiz suffered a knee injury and was unable to play for over a month. While Ruiz was injured, the Galaxy found unexpected striking potential in
Edson Buddle, and even after coming back from the injury, Ruiz was notably still left off the travel roster for a high-profile game against
D.C. United. He scored his first goal of the 2008 season on 19 July in a game against
New York Red Bulls. Ruiz was traded on 19 August 2008 to
Toronto FC who in-turn released
Laurent Robert to make room for Ruiz. He was expected to help solve TFC's goal scoring woes as he had scored 82 goals in MLS at that point in his career, but he managed only five first team games in Toronto, during which he scored no goals. He was released by Toronto in early 2009 after they signed
Dwayne De Rosario.
Olimpia (2009) On 31 January 2009, Ruiz signed a contract with
Paraguayan club
Olimpia Asunción under the request of then-coach
Ever Hugo Almeida. Ruiz and his compatriot
Carlos Figueroa joined the club together. Both of the players were coached by Ever Hugo Almeida at CSD Municipal between 2001 and 2003. Ruiz joined Olimpia Asunción on a non-contract, but on the promise of signing a contract. Amongst Ruiz' most remembered goals, came in a 2–0 victory in the
Paraguayan superclasico against
Cerro Porteño and a free kick against
3 de Febrero. He also scored a
hat trick against
Rubio Ñu in a 5–3 victory for Olimpia. In total, Ruiz scored 10 goals in 18 appearances, becoming the team's leading goal scorer and the third leading goal scorer in the 2009 Torneo Apertura. Ruiz finished with Olimpia Asunción in June 2009. Ruiz departed the club before the 2009 Torneo Apertura finished. The decision of leaving Olimpia was because of the circumstances and was not his, as the club experienced it's worse administrative moment. Since departing Olimpia, Ruiz became friends with
Denis Caniza,
Mario Jara and
Juan Lucero and remained in contact with them.
Puebla (2009–2010) Ruiz signed with
Puebla on 30 June 2009 under head coach
José Luis Sánchez Solá. On 25 July 2009, in a game against
Tigres, he scored his first goal for Puebla on a penalty kick. He wore number 20, which is the same number he previously wore for LA Galaxy, FC Dallas, and the Guatemala national team.
Aris FC (2010) Ruiz agreed to join
Aris FC on 12 July 2010. He made his debut on 18 August 2010 in the playoff round of the
Europa League against
Austria Wien, becoming the first Guatemalan footballer ever to appear in a
UEFA competition match. The first leg was played in
Thessaloniki with Ruiz netting on his debut to give Aris a 1–0 victory. In the second leg played in Vienna, Ruiz scored again in a 1–1 draw, giving Aris a 2–1 aggregate victory and sending them through to the
group stage, where he scored one more goal against
Rosenborg.
Philadelphia Union (2011) After trialling with the club during the 2011 MLS pre-season, Ruiz signed with the
Philadelphia Union on 22 February 2011. On 26 March he scored Philadelphia's winning goal in the home opener of the
2011 MLS season against the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Ruiz also scored the "MLS Goal of the Week" in Week 10 of the season with a game-winning 35 yard strike against the
Chicago Fire.
Veracruz (2011) On 3 August 2011, Ruíz was transferred to
Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz. He scored his first goal for the club against
Correcaminos during the 4th week of the
2011 Apertura tournament and finished the year with six goals in five matches. Ruiz remained a part of the club until 2013, though he was inactive for nearly a year.
D.C. United (2013) On 31 January 2013,
Municipal announced that Ruiz would be rejoining the club. However, this move was cancelled after
Veracruz refused to terminate Ruiz's contract. On 20 February 2013,
DC United announced that the club had signed Ruiz via the MLS allocation process to a one-year deal. On 30 October 2013, DC United announced that they had declined the contract option on Ruiz.
Return to Guatemala (2014) On 8 February 2014,
Municipal announced that Ruiz would be rejoining the club. He signed an 18-month contract that made him the highest paid footballer ever in
Central America.
Return to FC Dallas (2016) On 15 September 2016,
FC Dallas announced that they had signed Ruiz for a second stint with the club. ==International career==