Osasuna López was born in
Logroño,
La Rioja. A product of
CA Osasuna's youth ranks, he made his first-team – and
La Liga – debut on 17 October 2004 in a 3–2 home win against
Albacete Balompié, and finished his
first season with 13 games and one goal, scored in his first appearance.
The following campaign, López was an undisputed starter as the
Navarrese side
achieved a first-ever qualification for the
UEFA Champions League. The player contributed six goals to this feat, As Osasuna were
relegated to the
UEFA Cup, López appeared 11 in matches in the team's semi-finals run, netting in 3–0 away defeats of
Parma FC (twice) and
Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Athletic Bilbao In summer 2007, López signed with neighbours
Athletic Bilbao for around
€6 million. His competitive debut was on 28 August in a 0–0 home draw against his former team, and he was first-choice in his first two years, totalling 60 league matches; in
his second he helped the
Basques to narrowly avoid relegation, scoring at
Recreativo de Huelva (1–1), and at home against
Sporting de Gijón (3–0) and
Racing de Santander (2–1, through a
penalty). López netted six goals from 28 appearances in
2010–11 to match the highest total in his career, but he became a fringe player for the
Lions after the arrival of Argentine
Marcelo Bielsa as club manager. On 31 August 2012, his contract with Athletic was rescinded by mutual consent.
Brighton & Hove Albion Immediately after being released, López transferred to
Brighton & Hove Albion in the
Championship, signing a one-year contract. During his spell at the
Falmer Stadium, he was nicknamed 'Spanish Dave'.
Later years After leaving England at the age of 32, López spent three full seasons in his country's
Segunda División, first with
CD Lugo and then
SD Huesca. Subsequently, he took his game to the lower leagues. ==Honours==