David Rivas Rodríguez (born 2 December 1978) is a Spanish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He spent most of his 16-year career with Betis, appearing in 244 competitive games and winning the 2005 Copa del Rey. In

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, he totalled 171 matches and seven goals in nine seasons.

Club career

Rivas was born in

Dos Hermanas Dos Hermanas (, "two sisters") is a town and municipality in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It is part of the Seville metropolitan area, lying south of the city of Seville. With a population of 140,430 as of 2024, it is the second ...

Province of Seville The Province of Seville () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It borders the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and Córdoba in the ...

. Having previously played with the club's reserves, he spent the vast majority of his professional career at

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

, making his first-team – and

– debut during the 1999–2000 season: his first game was on 21 August 1999 as he started in a 1–0 away loss against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, with his team eventually suffering relegation. He contributed 20

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

matches the following campaign, in an immediate promotion. Rivas went on to become an important defensive element for the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns in subsequent years, becoming their

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and scoring four goals from 32 appearances in 2004–05 as Betis achieved

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

(

Juanito Juanito is a given name or nickname, meaning "Little Juan" or Johnny. Notable people with the name include: Professional footballers * Juan Ignacio Gomez Taleb (born 1985), Argentinian forward * Juan Díaz Sánchez (1948–2013), Spanish forw ...

, the other stopper, added another four). Afterwards, however, dramatic loss of form and a bad run with injuries meant he featured sparingly for the side. In July 2010, after only 42 league appearances over four seasons, the 31-year-old Rivas left Betis and Spain for the first time, joining

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

. In September of the following year, he returned to his homeland and signed for

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

in the second tier.

Honours

Betis *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 2004–05

References

External links

*
Betisweb stats and bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, David 1978 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Dos Hermanas Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Dos Hermanas CF players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players SD Huesca footballers Liga I players FC Vaslui players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania