Iván de la Peña

Iván de la Peña

Personal information
Full name	Iván de la Peña López
Date of birth	6 May 1976 (1976-05-06)
Place of birth	Santander, Spain
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Roma (technical collaborator)
Youth career
	Racing Santander
1991–1993	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1996	Barcelona B	37	(5)
1995–1998	Barcelona	80	(11)
1998–2002	Lazio	15	(0)
1999–2000	→ Marseille (loan)	12	(1)
2000–2001	→ Barcelona (loan)	9	(0)
2002–2011	Espanyol	179	(8)
National team
1991–1992	Spain U16	17	(2)
1992	Spain U17	4	(1)
1994	Spain U18	7	(3)
1995	Spain U20	5	(2)
1995–1996	Spain U21	10	(1)
1996	Spain U23	4	(0)
2005	Spain	5	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is De la Peña and the second or maternal family name is López.

Iván de la Peña López (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈβan delaˈpeɲa]; born 6 May 1976 in Santander, Cantabria) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a central midfielder. During his career, de la Peña earned the nicknames Little Buddha and Lo Pelat (The Shaven One) due to his shaven head and slight frame.

Having started as a youth prodigy at FC Barcelona, he incidentally closed out his extensive career at neighbouring Espanyol, amassing La Liga totals of 267 games and 19 goals over the course of 12 seasons.

De la Peña was also known for his skills and accurate passing, and gained five caps for Spain.

Playing career

Club career

De la Peña was recruited by FC Barcelona as a youth player in 1991 and made his debut for the B team in 1993. He went on to play 37 games for them, and then manager Johan Cruyff gave him his debut with the senior team on 3 September 1995, as he came on as a substitute and scored, in a 2–0 win at Real Valladolid. At 19 he was initially regarded as the natural successor to Josep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour with Cruyff and found himself dropped, although he achieved a career-best seven league goals in that rookie season.

With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, de la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He subsequently developed a partnership with Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the team that won the Spanish Cup/European Cup Winners' Cup/European Supercup treble in 1997. He was also voted the best young player by El País in both 1996 and 1997.

De la Peña found himself out of favour at Barça once again, after the arrival of Dutch coach Louis van Gaal, and he was consequently transferred to S.S. Lazio, along with Fernando Couto. However, he failed to establish himself in Serie A and was loaned to Olympique de Marseille during the 1999–00 season. This move was not successful either and he returned to Barcelona, on loan, for 2000–01. After only appearing nine times (one start, against Racing de Santander) throughout the season, under then coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, de la Peña returned to Italy, being released.

In 2002, de la Peña moved to Barcelona neighbours RCD Espanyol, where he found the continuity and stability to produce some of the best football in his career. In 2005 he helped the Catalan outfit finish fifth in La Liga, enabling them to qualify for the UEFA Cup. In the 2006 domestic cup final, de la Peña masterminded a 4–1 victory against Real Zaragoza, setting up two goals. Raúl Tamudo scored after two minutes when he headed in a rebound following a de la Peña free-kick. The pair combined again to carve open the Zaragoza defence to lay on a goal for Luis García. As a result, Espanyol again for the qualified for the UEFA Cup and eventually reached the competition final, losing to Sevilla FC on penalties.

From 2007–09, after extending his contract, de la Peña was severely hindered with injury problems. However, on February 21, 2009, he managed to net twice in a 2–1 derby win at Barça, with one side ranking first in the league and the other last; Espanyol eventually finished in 10th position.

After the shocking death of new team captain Daniel Jarque, in August 2009, de la Peña was named as his replacement. His physical problems continued to bother him tremendously, to a point which he said that if this became a major issue he would retire, which happened on 22 May 2011 at the age of 35, immediately after a home match against Sevilla.

International career

De la Peña, alongside the likes of Fernando Morientes, Raúl and Gaizka Mendieta, played for the Spanish U-21s at both the 1996 European Under-21 Championship and the 1996 Olympic Games, helping the nation reach the quarterfinals in the latter.

Despite this, he did not make his debut for the senior Spain team until 9 February 2005, at the age of 28 years and 9 months, in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier against San Marino (Almería, 5–0). He subsequently played for Spain on five occasions during the year, with his last coming against the same opponent.

Post-playing career

On 8 June 2011, de la Peña was announced as part of the new coaching staff that will work alongside new manager Luis Enrique - a former teammate at Barcelona - at Serie A club A.S. Roma. It was announced in August that he would be taking a leave of absence for family reasons.

Statistics

Club

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		Copa de la Liga		Europe		Total
1995–96	Barcelona	La Liga	30	7	0	0	0	0	7	2	37	9
1996–97			33	2	1	0	0	0	6	0	39	2
1997–98			17	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	19	2
Italy			League		Coppa Italia		League Cup		Europe		Total
1998–99	Lazio	Serie A	14	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	18	0
France			League		Coupe de France		Coupe de la Ligue		Europe		Total
1999–00	Marseille	Ligue 1	12	1	0	0	0	0	7	0	19	1
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		Copa de la Liga		Europe		Total
2000–01	Barcelona	La Liga	9	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	12	0
Italy			League		Coppa Italia		League Cup		Europe		Total
2001–02	Lazio	Serie A	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		Copa de la Liga		Europe		Total
2002–03	Espanyol	La Liga	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	0
2003–04			25	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	25	1
2004–05			30	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	30	3
2005–06			30	0	1	0	0	0	8	0	39	0
2006–07			26	0	0	0	0	0	10	1	36	1
2007–08			12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
2008–09			22	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	4
2009–10			4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
2010–11			2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Total	Spain		241	19
	Italy		15	0
	France		12	1
Career total			255	20

International

Spain national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2005	5	0
Total	5	0

Honours

Club

Barcelona

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1996–97
• UEFA Super Cup: 1997
• Spanish League: 1997–98
• Spanish Cup: 1996–97
• Spanish Supercup: 1996; Runner-up 1997

Lazio

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998–99
• Italian Supercup: 1998

Espanyol

• Spanish Cup: 2005–06
• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2006–07

National team

Spain U-21

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: Runner-up 1996

Individual

• Don Balón Award — Breakthrough Player of the Year in La Liga: 1995–96

External links

• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Ivan De-La-Pena French league stats at LFP.fr (French)
• Iván de la Peña – FIFA competition record
• Spain - Footballer of the year; at RSSF
• Transfermarkt profile