Iván Helguera

Football player infobox
playername= Iván Helguera


fullname = Iván Helguera Bujía
nickname = Helguera
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1975|3|28
cityofbirth = Santander
countryofbirth = Spain
height = height|meter= 1.85
currentclub = Valencia
clubnumber = 15
position = Central Defender, Defensive Midfielder
years= 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2007 2007–
clubs = CD Manchego Albacete Balompié AS Roma RCD Espanyol Real Madrid Valencia
caps(goals) = 013 0(2)
014 0(2)
008 0(0) 037 0(2) 228 (19) 024 0(1)
nationalyears = 1998–
nationalteam = Spain
nationalcaps(goals) = 047 0(3)
pcupdate = 22:04, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 29 June 2006

Iván Helguera Bujía (born March 28, 1975 in Santander, Cantabria) is a Spanish football central defender or defensive midfielder, who currently plays for Valencia CF of La Liga.

Career

On the club level, Helguera has played for CD Manchego (1996), Albacete Balompié (1997), AS Roma (1997-98), RCD Espanyol (1998-99), and Real Madrid (1999-2007). He won the Champions League twice with Real. For Spain, Helguera has been capped nearly 50 times. He played for his country at 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.

At the start of the 2006-07 football season, Helguera was surprisingly stripped of his number 6 jersey (which went to Mahamadou Diarra), given the 21 squad number and made to train with the youth team, in anticipation of his leaving the club, even though his contract ends in June 2009 [ [http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=player&Id=584&b=true&pn=Iv%C3%A1n_Helguera_Buj%C3%ADa footballdatabase.com] ] . However, he later managed to fight his way back into the starting eleven, making a subsequent 21 starts, being influential in helping the club win the La Liga title.cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/07/20/valencia.helguera.ap/|title= Stalwart Helguera goes to Valencia|publisher=CNN.com|date=2007-07-20|accessdate=2007-07-27]

On July 20, 2007, Helguera left Real Madrid, signing for Valencia on a three-year contract. Upon joining the club, Helguera stated that he had wanted to come to Valencia for a "long time" and was "delighted" to arrive in Valencia. [cite web|url=http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=358985|title=Helguera: "I've Waited To Come To Valencia For A Long Time"|publisher=Goal.com|date=2007-07-20|accessdate=2007-07-27] .

Personal life

His younger brother, Luis Helguera is also a professional footballer. Iván 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. The name of his son is Enzo. He loves Italy and because of it his sons have italian names.

Honours

*Spanish La Liga: 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 2006-2007
*Spanish Super Cup: 2001 and 2003
*UEFA Champions League: 2000 and 2002
*European Supercup: 2002
*Intercontinental Cup: 2002
*Copa del Rey: 2007-08

References

External links

* [http://www.valenciacf.es/ Valencia C.F. official website]
* [http://real-madrid.ru/index.php?act=show&id=143 Helguera on Rus]