Iván Hurtado
Encyclopedia
Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo (born August 16, 1974 in Esmeraldas
) is an Ecuador
ian professional football
central defender
for Barcelona
as well as captaining the Ecuadorian national team
. He is currently one of the most capped male footballers of all time.
, at the age of 16. A year later he moved on to one of Ecuador's biggest clubs in Guayaquil
, Emelec
, and had two stellar seasons, including two championships with the club, in one of them he scored the championship goal with a free kick he executed.
His excellent play warranted a switch to the Mexican leagues where he even further developed his defending techniques and his intelligent read of the game. Ivan made a big impact in his first club, Celaya
, where he led them to the Mexican league finals. He then moved to Tigres
. He then moved on to the La Liga
in Spain playing for Real Murcia.
After a mostly successful spell with Pachuca in Primera División de México
, he moved on to Al Arabi in the Qatari League, impressing many over there.
After the FIFA World Cup
in Germany, where Hurtado shone, it was reported that high profile clubs such as English Premier League's Wigan Athletic, and Spanish La Liga
's Recreativo Huelva and Villarreal
were highly interested in him. However none of these rumors were accurate, and after spending six more months with Al Arabi, Hurtado moved to Colombia
where he played for Atlético Nacional
, he led the defence of the team, becoming captain in the back-to-back titles in 2007. In mid-2009, he will return to Deportivo Quito
for the remainder of their season.
" for ramming the football with his feet like the Hanna-Barbera character does with his club. Ivan's playing style differs from his national partner, Giovanny Espinoza
. While Espinoza is a very large player who uses his size, power and speed to overwhelm his adversary, Hurtado is considered to be very classy and often needs no contact at all to dispossess his adversary. Ivan also makes very clean tackles, organizes his back line as well as the best of them, and can even display confidence with the ball at his feet, and he can occasionally make surprising dashes forward.
A notable long and short passer, Hurtado has also taken free kicks well. Although not able to the bend the ball as well as other notable free kick takers, he has been known to strike the ball with such force that goalkeepers find it hard to judge and time his shots.
qualification matches than any other player in history, and has more overall international caps than any other South American player. Hurtado was one of the key players who played a major role in securing a first ever World Cup berth for Ecuador in 2002. He had such an impressive tournament, that he was appointed to succeed former Ecuador
ian star Alex Aguinaga
to be the captain of a new generation of an ever-improving Ecuador side.
His best performances came in Ecuador
's dream tournament in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
. His defence left stars such as Polish
forward Jacek Krzynowek
, Costa Rica
n striker Paulo Wanchope
, and English players Wayne Rooney
, Joe Cole
, and Steven Gerrard
desperate for goals.
However, his form declined in a space of just six months. Nevertheless, he played for Ecuador
in Copa América 2007
, where his performance was very low and criticized by many of his countrymen as the main reason for Ecuador
's early elimination. Hurtado started the first two games against Chile
and Mexico
but was on the bench the whole game against Brazil.
Hurtado was called up for the first two 2010 World Cup qualifiers
against Venezuela
and Brazil
, miserably losing both matches. As a consequence, he along with teammate Ulises de la Cruz
, was excluded from the squad for the next round against Paraguay
.
Hurtado announced that this would be his final qualifying campaign and possibly the World Cup should Ecuador qualify. He stated "There are a crop of talented and personable youngsters coming through now, and they deserve to have their chance like I had mine" referring to his replacements.
Atlético Nacional
Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Esmeraldas is a coastal city in northwestern Ecuador. It is the seat of the Esmeraldas Canton and the capital of the Esmeraldas Province. It has an international sea port and a small airport ....
) is an Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
central defender
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
for Barcelona
Barcelona Sporting Club
Barcelona Sporting Club is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. They currently play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of football in the country, and hold the distinction of being the only team to have never been relegated.With...
as well as captaining the Ecuadorian national team
Ecuador national football team
The Ecuadorian national football team represents Ecuador in international football competitions and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation. They generally play official home matches at Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito, but often play friendlies in other stadiums around the country...
. He is currently one of the most capped male footballers of all time.
Club career
He started his career with the small club of his hometown, Esmeraldas PetroleroClub Deportivo Esmeraldas Petrolero
Club Social, Cultural y Deportivo Esmeraldas Petrolero is a sports club based in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. It is best known for its professional football team, which as since folded....
, at the age of 16. A year later he moved on to one of Ecuador's biggest clubs in Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
, Emelec
Club Sport Emelec
Club Sport Emelec is a Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil that is best known for their professional football team. The football team plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of professional football in the country....
, and had two stellar seasons, including two championships with the club, in one of them he scored the championship goal with a free kick he executed.
His excellent play warranted a switch to the Mexican leagues where he even further developed his defending techniques and his intelligent read of the game. Ivan made a big impact in his first club, Celaya
Atlético Celaya
The Club Atlético Celaya was a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. The club was formed in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atletico Cuernavaca and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya merged...
, where he led them to the Mexican league finals. He then moved to Tigres
UANL Tigres
Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, often known only as Tigres or UANL, a Mexican football club that plays in the Primera División. It is one of the two professional football teams of the state of Nuevo León. The team plays home games at the Estadio Universitario, located in San...
. He then moved on to the La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
in Spain playing for Real Murcia.
After a mostly successful spell with Pachuca in Primera División de México
Primera División de México
The Primera División Profesional , known simply as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2011 has 18 clubs. Up to June 2011, it was divided into three groups competing...
, he moved on to Al Arabi in the Qatari League, impressing many over there.
After the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in Germany, where Hurtado shone, it was reported that high profile clubs such as English Premier League's Wigan Athletic, and Spanish La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
's Recreativo Huelva and Villarreal
Villarreal CF
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. , usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or just Villarreal, is a Spanish Primera División football club based in Vila-real, a city in the province of Castellón within the Valencian Community...
were highly interested in him. However none of these rumors were accurate, and after spending six more months with Al Arabi, Hurtado moved to Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
where he played for Atlético Nacional
Atlético Nacional
Corporación Deportiva Atlético Nacional is a Colombian football team based in Medellín. They play their home games at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot stadium which also serves as home to Deportivo Independiente Medellín...
, he led the defence of the team, becoming captain in the back-to-back titles in 2007. In mid-2009, he will return to Deportivo Quito
Sociedad Deportivo Quito
Sociedad Deportivo Quito is a Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league....
for the remainder of their season.
Playing style
Once a top class defender, he is known in Spanish by his fans as "Bam BamBamm-Bamm Rubble
Bamm-Bamm Rubble is the adopted son of fictitious characters Barney and Betty Rubble. He is most famous in his infant form on the animated series The Flintstones, but has also appeared at various other ages, including as a teenager on the early 1970s spinoff The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show and as an...
" for ramming the football with his feet like the Hanna-Barbera character does with his club. Ivan's playing style differs from his national partner, Giovanny Espinoza
Giovanny Espinoza
Giovanny Patricio Espinoza Pabón is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Unión Española in the Chilean First Division.-Club career:...
. While Espinoza is a very large player who uses his size, power and speed to overwhelm his adversary, Hurtado is considered to be very classy and often needs no contact at all to dispossess his adversary. Ivan also makes very clean tackles, organizes his back line as well as the best of them, and can even display confidence with the ball at his feet, and he can occasionally make surprising dashes forward.
A notable long and short passer, Hurtado has also taken free kicks well. Although not able to the bend the ball as well as other notable free kick takers, he has been known to strike the ball with such force that goalkeepers find it hard to judge and time his shots.
International career
Hurtado holds the record as the youngest Ecuadorian to play for his country at just 17 years and 285 days. He has appeared in more FIFA World CupFIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
qualification matches than any other player in history, and has more overall international caps than any other South American player. Hurtado was one of the key players who played a major role in securing a first ever World Cup berth for Ecuador in 2002. He had such an impressive tournament, that he was appointed to succeed former Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian star Alex Aguinaga
Álex Aguinaga
Álex Dario Aguinaga Garzón is a Ecuadorian retired footballer midfielder and former mananger. As a player, he is one of the all-time cap leaders for Ecuador with 109 matches, scoring 23 goals. Aguinaga is known as one of the best Ecuadorian footballers of all time...
to be the captain of a new generation of an ever-improving Ecuador side.
His best performances came in Ecuador
Ecuador national football team
The Ecuadorian national football team represents Ecuador in international football competitions and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation. They generally play official home matches at Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito, but often play friendlies in other stadiums around the country...
's dream tournament in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
. His defence left stars such as Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
forward Jacek Krzynowek
Jacek Krzynówek
Jacek Krzynówek , born 15 May 1976, is a former Polish footballer. One of the most glorious moments of his career was scoring a rocket shot against Real Madrid in the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League.-Club career:...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n striker Paulo Wanchope
Paulo Wanchope
Pablo César Wanchope Watson , more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican former professional footballer. As of February 2009, Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the national football team, behind Rolando Fonseca, with 45 goals in 73 international...
, and English players Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
, Joe Cole
Joe Cole
Joseph John "Joe" Cole is an English footballer who plays for Lille, on loan from Liverpool, and the England national football team as midfielder. He started his career with where he played more than 100 games during five years, until he left for Chelsea in 2003...
, and Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard MBE is an English footballer who plays for and captains Premier League club Liverpool. He also has 89 caps for the England national team. He has played much of his career in a centre midfielder role, but he has also been used as a second striker and right winger...
desperate for goals.
However, his form declined in a space of just six months. Nevertheless, he played for Ecuador
Ecuador national football team
The Ecuadorian national football team represents Ecuador in international football competitions and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation. They generally play official home matches at Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito, but often play friendlies in other stadiums around the country...
in Copa América 2007
Copa América 2007
The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams...
, where his performance was very low and criticized by many of his countrymen as the main reason for Ecuador
Ecuador national football team
The Ecuadorian national football team represents Ecuador in international football competitions and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation. They generally play official home matches at Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito, but often play friendlies in other stadiums around the country...
's early elimination. Hurtado started the first two games against Chile
Chile national football team
The Chilean national football team represents Chile in all major international football competitions. The team is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile which was established in 1895. They have appeared in eight World Cup tournaments and were hosts of the 1962 FIFA World Cup finishing in...
and Mexico
Mexico national football team
The Mexican national football team represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation , the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is José Manuel de la Torre...
but was on the bench the whole game against Brazil.
Hurtado was called up for the first two 2010 World Cup qualifiers
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
The South American zone of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification saw 10 teams competing for places in the finals which were held in South Africa. The format is identical to that used for the previous three World Cup qualification tournaments held by CONMEBOL...
against Venezuela
Venezuela national football team
The Venezuela national football team is the national football team of Venezuela and is controlled by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. It is nicknamed La Vinotinto , because of the traditional burgundy color of their shirts....
and Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
, miserably losing both matches. As a consequence, he along with teammate Ulises de la Cruz
Ulises de la Cruz
Ulises Hernán de la Cruz Bernardo is a Ecuadorian footballer currently with LDU Quito.De la Cruz has set up a charity, Friends of FundeCruz, in his home village to fund a number of projects serving the local community....
, was excluded from the squad for the next round against Paraguay
Paraguay national football team
The Paraguay national football team is controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association and represents Paraguay in men's international football competitions. The team has reached the second round of the World Cup on four occasions . The 2010 trip also featured their first appearance in the...
.
Hurtado announced that this would be his final qualifying campaign and possibly the World Cup should Ecuador qualify. He stated "There are a crop of talented and personable youngsters coming through now, and they deserve to have their chance like I had mine" referring to his replacements.
Club
EmelecClub Sport Emelec
Club Sport Emelec is a Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil that is best known for their professional football team. The football team plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of professional football in the country....
- Serie A: 1993, 1994
Atlético Nacional
Atlético Nacional
Corporación Deportiva Atlético Nacional is a Colombian football team based in Medellín. They play their home games at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot stadium which also serves as home to Deportivo Independiente Medellín...
- Primera A: 2007-I, 2007-II
Nation
- Canada CupCanada Cup (soccer)The Canada Cup or Maple Cup was a men's invitational international football tournament for national football teams. Its first edition was the 1995 Canada Cup. Three nations competed: Canada, Chile and Northern Ireland...
: 19991999 Canada Cup-Canada vs Guatemala:-Ecuador vs Guatemala:-Canada vs Iran:-Iran vs Guatemala:-Canada vs Ecuador:-References:*... - Korea CupKorea CupKorea Cup was a football competition held annually in the South Korea from 1971 to 1999. The cup, hosted by the Korea Football Association, was contested between South Korea and guest teams....
: 1995