Iván Helguera

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Iván Helguera
Personal information
Full name	Iván Helguera Bujía
Date of birth	28 March 1975 (1975-03-28) (age 34)
Place of birth	Santander, Spain
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Centre back, defensive midfielder
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2007 2007–2008	CD Manchego Albacete AS Roma Espanyol Real Madrid Valencia	013 0(2) 014 0(2) 008 0(0) 037 0(2) 229 (18) 031 0(1)
National team
1998–2004	Spain	051 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 September 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Iván Helguera Bujía (born 28 March 1975 in Santander, Cantabria) is a Spanish football central defender or defensive midfielder.

[edit] Club career

Helguera started playing for local CD Manchego and Albacete Balompié, playing in 14 Segunda División matches in 1996-97 for the latter.

He would be snapped by Serie A side A.S. Roma after that, but left after one disappointing campaign, joining RCD Espanyol, where his stellar performances led to a Real Madrid deal, even before 1998-99 had finished.

With Real Madrid, Helguera was an instant first-choice, and netted five and six league goals in his second and fourth campaigns, alternating between defender and midfielder. He was also instrumental in the capital side's two UEFA Champions League conquests.

Not an undisputed starter in his final two seasons, Helguera still managed 42 appearances combined (netting once, in a 3-1 win at Gimnàstic de Tarragona, on October 28, 2006). At the start of his last season, he was surprisingly stripped of his #6 jersey (which went to new signing Mahamadou Diarra), given #21 and made to train with the youth team, in anticipation of his leaving the club, even though his contract ended in June 2009.^[1]However, he later managed to fight his way back into the starting eleven, being somewhat influential in helping the club to the 2007 domestic league.^[2]

Subsequently, on July 20, 2007, Helguera signed for Valencia CF on a three-year contract.^[2]Upon joining, Helguera stated that he had wanted to come to Valencia for a "long time" and was "delighted" to arrive at the club. During his first season, he was relatively important, also helping the Che to the 2008 Spanish Cup. However, after having appeared very rarely in the first part of the second season, his contract was cancelled on December 12, 2008.^[3]Both FC Dinamo Bucureşti^[4] and Los Angeles Galaxy^[5]declared interest in signing the player.

[edit] International career

For Spain, Helguera was capped 47 times, the first coming on November 18, 1998, in an away friendly with Italy (2-2).

He played for his country at UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004, missing the 2006 World Cup after being omitted from the squad in the months before the tournament by national team coach Luis Aragonés.

[edit] Personal life

Helguera's younger brother, Luis, is also a professional footballer (played in the first level for Real Zaragoza and Deportivo Alavés, and also in Italy). He is married to his longtime girlfriend Lorena. They welcomed their first baby, a little boy named Luca on November 30, 2005. He was father again in 2008, to Enzo.

[edit] Honours

• UEFA Champions League: 1999-2000, 2001-02
• UEFA Super Cup: 2002
• Intercontinental Cup: 2002
• Spanish League: 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07
• Spanish Cup: 2007-08
• Spanish Supercup: 2001, 2003

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish)
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)

Spain Squad v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares • 2 Salgado • 3 Aranzábal • 4 Guardiola • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Helguera • 8 Fran • 9 Munitis • 10 Raúl • 11 Alfonso • 12 Sergi • 13 Casillas • 14 Gerard • 15 Engonga • 16 Mendieta • 17 Etxeberria • 18 Paco • 19 Velasco • 20 Urzaiz • 21 Valerón • 22 Molina • Coach: Camacho v • d • e Spain squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas • 2 Curro Torres • 3 Juanfran • 4 Helguera • 5 Puyol • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Raúl • 8 Baraja • 9 Morientes • 10 Tristán • 11 de Pedro • 12 A. Luque • 13 Ricardo • 14 Albelda • 15 Romero • 16 Mendieta • 17 Valerón • 18 Sergio • 19 Xavi • 20 Nadal • 21 Luis Enrique • 22 Joaquín • 23 Contreras • Coach: Camacho v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Cañizares • 2 Capdevila • 3 Marchena • 4 Albelda • 5 Puyol • 6 Helguera • 7 Raúl (c) • 8 Baraja • 9 F. Torres • 10 Morientes • 11 A. Luque • 12 Gabri • 13 Aranzubia • 14 Vicente • 15 R. Bravo • 16 Xabi Alonso • 17 Etxeberria • 18 César Martín • 19 Joaquín • 20 Xavi • 21 Valerón • 22 Juanito • 23 Casillas • Coach: Iñaki Sáez