Claudio Javier López (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈklawðjo ˈlopes], born 17 July 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer, who played as a forward.

That included a season best in 1998–99 which saw him find the net on 30 occasions across competitions to become the club's top scorer (3rd best in la Liga behind Raul and Rivaldo, despite taking fewer penalties than his rivals).

The Argentine formed a devastating partnership with Romanian Adrian Ilie and played alongside such stars as Jocelyn Angloma, Santiago Cañizares and Gaizka Mendieta, who would later be his teammate at Lazio as well.

López remained with Valencia for four years, helping the team to the final of the UEFA Champions League in the 1999–2000 season, when he was transferred to Lazio of Serie A for €35 million.

They formed a solid partnership that yielded a combined 25 Serie A goals as Lazio finished 4th to qualify for the Champions League under new coach Roberto Mancini.

In December 2002 he made headlines during a Serie A clash with Inter that ended 3-3: after netting a hat-trick that gave his side a 3–0 lead,[3] Claudio López improvised an "Aserejé" goal celebration with teammate Bernardo Corradi, inspired by the dance routine of Spanish band Las Ketchup.

"[4] In the UEFA Cup, López found the net twice to help his team reach the semi-finals, where they would be knocked out by the eventual winners, Jose Mourinho's FC Porto.

He scored a goal against the Netherlands in the 1998 FIFA World Cup quarter-final, when he kicked the ball between Edwin van der Sar's legs to tie the match temporarily, although Argentina were ultimately defeated 2–1.

In a global Nike advertising campaign in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, he starred in a "Secret Tournament" commercial (branded "Scopion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing alongside football players such as Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Edgar Davids, Fabio Cannavaro, Francesco Totti, Ronaldinho, Luís Figo and Hidetoshi Nakata, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".