Early career

Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side Deportes Tolima. Later on he was transferred to first division team Envigado in 2004, and after a splendid participation in the Gold Cup, he set off to the United Arab Emirates.

In 2005, he signed a three-year contract to send him to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates.^[3] However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the AFC Champions League, and he returned to Panama.

Returning to Panama, he participated in the Clausura Championship with Plaza Amador, one of the best teams in the local league, but he only participated in a few matches. His conditioning was not optimal, and he acquired the nickname of "Gordito (fatty)". Growing into better form, he moved on to Colombia, where he played a short spell with ex Copa Libertadores champions Once Caldas,^[4] from which he was fired for disciplinary problems. He then returned to Panama to play for Plaza Amador.^[5]

Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Tejada on 12 December 2006, for the 2007 season. He played only two minutes in five games,^[6] however, before he was released by head coach Jason Kreis in early June.^[7] He returned to Panamanian side Tauro for a very brief stint, scoring four goals in four matches.

America de Cali

In August 2007, Tejada was signed by Colombian club América de Cali.^[8] Tejada scored only three goals in the 2007 Torneo Finalizacion; however, he became a key player for América in the next tournament, the 2008 Torneo Apertura, where he scored 12 goals in 19 matches, becoming América de Cali's top-scorer and second overall in the tournament. Tejada's goals helped America reached the finals, with Tejada scoring a goal in the second leg to send the match into penalties, where America lost to Boyacá Chicó on penalties. He was nicknamed by the Colombian press as America's golden tooth (el diente de oro del America) because of his golden tooth.^{[citation needed]} After the tournament, there was much interest for Tejada across big teams from South America and Europe, including Argentine club River Plate;^[9] however, nothing was finalized.

Millonarios

Shortly after the 2008 Apertura concluded, Tejada was sold to another club in Colombia, Millonarios, on a three-year contract.^[10] He made his debut on 16 August 2008 in the Embajadores victory over Deportes Quindío. However, Tejada was unable to replicate his form at America with his new club, and he was released shortly after Millonarios failed to quality for the 2009 Apertura playoffs, having scored just once in 25 appearances.

Juan Aurich

Tejada returned to Tauro in summer 2009,^[11] and afterwards moved to Peru to play for champions Juan Aurich in early 2010.^[12] In Tejada's first season at the club, the 2010 Torneo Descentralizado, he scored 16 league goals and helped his club secure a Copa Sudamericana spot. In the 2010 Copa Libertadores, Tejada scored six goals, placing fourth in the top scoring chart, including a brace against Tecos on 28 January 2010.

In the following season Tejada finished as topscorer of the league, with 17 goals, as he helped his club win the league title for the first time in history and achieve direct qualification for the 2012 Copa Libertadores. He left Juan Aurich with an impressive 48 goals in 96 games, which attracted interest from teams in stronger leagues such as Mexico and Brazil.

Toluca

Tejada finally moved to Mexican side Deportivo Toluca in late 2012 as a replacement for the Uruguayan striker Iván Alonso. His spell at Toluca began promising after a late arrival, scoring four goals in five matches; however, his performance and consistency dropped for the liguilla, the Clausura 2013 and in the disappointing performance of Toluca at Copa Libertadores.

Later career

In summer 2013, Tejada joined Veracruz on loan.^[13] For the 2014 season he joined another Peruvian club, Universidad César Vallejo.^[14] He scored 11 league goals and participated in the 2014 Copa Sudamericana with the club, but failed to score in any of the Sudamericana games.

In January 2015, Tejada returned to Peru where he played with Juan Aurich for two years and had an excellent spell, scoring 39 goals in 58 appearances. On 1 March 2015, Tejada walked off the pitch during a match against Cienciano after being subjected to racist abuse from fans.^[15]

International

Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tejada goal.

List of international goals scored by Luis Tejada^[21][22]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 June 2003	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Cuba	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2	29 June 2003	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Cuba	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3	28 April 2004	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Bermuda	3–0	4–1	Friendly
4	13 June 2004	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Saint Lucia	2–0	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	20 June 2004	Vieux Fort Stadium, Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia	Saint Lucia	1–0	3–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	30 March 2005	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Mexico	1–1	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	5 July 2005	Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	Colombia	1–0	1–0	2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
8	9 July 2005	Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	Trinidad and Tobago	1–1	2–2	2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
9				2–2
10	3 September 2005	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Costa Rica	1–3	1–3	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
11	7 October 2006	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	El Salvador	1–0	1–0	Friendly
12	19 November 2006	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Peru	1–0	1–2	Friendly
13	14 January 2007	Weingart Stadium, Monterey Park, United States	Armenia	1–0	1–1	Friendly
14	18 February 2007	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Costa Rica	1–0	1–1	2007 UNCAF Nations Cup
15	4 June 2008	Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States	Canada	1–1	2–2	Friendly
16	15 June 2008	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	El Salvador	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
17	31 March 2009	Estadio Agustín Sánchez, La Chorrera, Panama	Haiti	1–0	4–0	Friendly
18	7 June 2009	National Stadium, Kingston, Jamaica	Jamaica	2–2	2–3	Friendly
19	12 July 2009	University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, United States	Nicaragua	3–0	4–0	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
20				4–0
21	11 August 2010	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Venezuela	2–1	3–1	Friendly
22	3 September 2010	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Costa Rica	1–1	2–2	Friendly
23				2–1
24	7 September 2010	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Trinidad and Tobago	2–0	3–0	Friendly
25	17 November 2010	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Honduras	1–0	2–0	Friendly
26	7 June 2011	Ford Field, Detroit, United States	Guadeloupe	2–0	3–2	2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
27	14 June 2011	Livestrong Sporting Park, Kansas City, United States	Canada	1–1	1–1	2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
28	19 June 2011	RFK Stadium, Washington, United States	El Salvador	1–1	1–1	2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
29	10 August 2011	Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Bolivia	1–1	3–1	Friendly
30				2–1
31	6 September 2011	Estadio Nacional de Fútbol, Managua, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	1–0	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
32	7 October 2011	Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica	Dominica	2–0	5–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
33	11 October 2011	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Nicaragua	1–0	5–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
34				4–0
35	26 March 2013	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Honduras	1–0	2–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
36	11 October 2013	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	Mexico	1–1	1–2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
37	15 October 2013	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	United States	2–1	2–3	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
38	31 March 2015	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Costa Rica	2–0	2–1	Friendly
39	10 July 2015	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States	Honduras	1–0	1–1	2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
40	19 July 2015	MetLife Stadium, New York City, United States	Trinidad and Tobago	1–0	1–1	2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
41	17 November 2015	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Costa Rica	1–2	1–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
42	8 January 2016	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Cuba	2–0	4–0	Copa América Centenario qualification
43	6 September 2016	Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–3	1–3	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification