Iván Helguera Bujía (;In isolation, Bujía is pronounced born 28 March 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer.
Playing as either a central defender or defensive midfielder, with both good defensive and attacking skills, he represented five clubs during his career, notably Real Madrid – achieving team success as an important player – and Valencia. In his early 20s, he also had an unassuming abroad spell with Roma, going on to amass La Liga totals of 291 games and 21 goals over 11 seasons.
A Spanish international on nearly 50 occasions, Helguera represented the country at the 2002 World Cup and two European Championships.
Club career Early career Born and raised in Santander, Cantabria and brought up at local Racing Club, Helguera started playing professionally for Manchego CF and Albacete Balompié, appearing in 14 Segunda División games in the 1996–97 season for the latter. He was purchased by Serie A side AS Roma after that, alongside compatriot César Gómez, but left after one disappointing campaign to join RCD Espanyol, where his stellar performances as a defender under coach Marcelo Bielsa led to a Real Madrid deal even before 1998–99 had finished.
Real Madrid With Real Madrid from July 1999, Helguera was an instant first choice, and scored five and six La Liga goals in his second and fourth seasons (claiming the national championship on both occasions) while alternating between defender and midfielder. He was also instrumental in the capital team's two victories in the UEFA Champions League: in the 2000 final, against fellow Spaniards Valencia CF, he started the match as a sweeper in a 3–0 win, appearing as stopper two years later in the 2–1 defeat of Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Not a starter in his final two years, Helguera still made a total of 42 appearances, scoring in a 3–1 away win over Gimnàstic de Tarragona on 28 October 2006. At the start of his last season he was surprisingly stripped of his No. 6 jersey which went to new signing Mahamadou Diarra, given No. 21 and made to train with the youth team in anticipation of his leaving the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, even though his contract ran until June 2009; however, he later managed to fight his way back into the starting eleven, being somewhat influential in helping the club to the domestic league.
Valencia On 20 July 2007, Helguera signed for Valencia on a three-year deal; upon joining, he stated that he had wanted to come for a "long time" and was "delighted" to arrive at the club. He was relatively important during his debut campaign, also helping the Che to win the Copa del Rey.
However, having featured very rarely in the first part of the following season under Unai Emery, Helguera's contract was cancelled on 12 December 2008, and both FC Dinamo București and Los Angeles Galaxy declared interest in signing the player, but nothing came of it and he retired from football later that year.
International career Helguera was capped 47 times for Spain, the first coming on 18 November 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.
Personal life Helguera's younger brother, Luis, was also a professional footballer. A midfielder, he played in the first division for Real Zaragoza and Deportivo Alavés, and also in Italy.
He married his longtime girlfriend Lorena, and welcomed his first baby, a boy named Luca, on 30 November 2005.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsManchego1995–9600001996–97132132Total132132Albacete1996–97Segunda División142142Roma1997–98Serie A80100090Espanyol1998–99La Liga3723000402Real Madrid1999–2000La Liga330601525422000–013251016649112001–02262601234452002–03336101705162003–0429160824332004–05343101014542005–0619040412712006–072312050301Total22918270871534333Valencia2007–08La Liga24160713722008–0910203060Total25180101432Career total32625390971646241
International + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsSpain19981019992020001002001622002110200381200490Total473
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Helguera goal. + List of international goals scored by Iván HelgueraNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 24 March 2001 Estadio José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain 1–0 5–0 2002 World Cup qualification2 28 March 2001 Mestalla Stadium, Valencia, Spain 1–0 2–1 Friendly3 2 April 2003 Estadio Reino de León, León, Spain 2–0 3–0 Euro 2004 qualifying
Honours Real Madrid La Liga: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07 Supercopa de España: 2003 UEFA Champions League: 1999–2000, 2001–02 Intercontinental Cup: 2002 UEFA Super Cup: 2002
Valencia Copa del Rey: 2007–08
References
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