Iván Balliu Campeny (born 1 January 1992) is a 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 plays as a

right-back 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 ...

for

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 ...

club

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

. After starting out at Barcelona B, he went on to compete professionally in Spain, Portugal and France. In

, he appeared for

. Balliu represented his native Spain at youth level before declaring for

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, for which he qualified via his father. He was first included in an Albanian senior squad in 2017, making his debut in October of that year and being selected for Euro 2024.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Caldes de Malavella,

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

to an Albanian father and a Spanish mother, Balliu joined

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

's youth system in 2004, aged 12. He made his senior debut in the 2010–11 season, playing two

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 ...

games with the reserves and starting against

in a 2–0 away win. In that year, he was also

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 ...

of the treble-winning '' Juvenil A'' team.

Arouca

On 30 May 2013, Balliu's contract expired and he was told by Barcelona that he would be released. One month later, he signed with Arouca in Portugal for two seasons, making his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

debut on 1 September in a 1–0 home victory over Rio Ave (90 minutes played).

Metz

Balliu joined French club

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

on 17 July 2015, on a two-year deal. He scored his first goal as a professional on 16 October, helping the hosts come from behind in the 2–2 home draw with Clermont. After contributing 24 appearances in his first season to help his team to return to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

after a one-year absence, Balliu's first match in the competition occurred on 13 August 2016, in a 3–2 home win over

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Almería

On 12 August 2019, Balliu agreed to a two-year contract with

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

of the Spanish second division. He scored his first goal in his country of birth on 7 March 2020, helping the hosts defeat

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

4–0.

Rayo Vallecano

Balliu moved to newly promoted

on 14 July 2021, on a two-year deal. He made his

debut on 15 August at the age of 29, playing the entire 3–0 defeat at

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

. His first goal came the following 9 January, when he closed the 1–1 home draw against

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 ...

International career

Of Albanian descent on his father's side, Balliu was eligible to represent

, speaking of his interest in an interview on 24 October 2016. On 22 August 2017 he received Albanian citizenship, thus becoming eligible to play for the national team. He was handed his first call shortly after when newly appointed coach

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager. In his playing career he played as a defender. A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right-back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he ...

selected him for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

on 2 and 5 September, and earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

also during that stage, playing the first half of the 3–0 loss against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

on 6 October. Balliu was selected by manager

Sylvinho Sylvio Mendes Campos Júnior (born 12 April 1974), commonly known as Sylvinho (sometimes alternatively spelled Silvinho), is a Brazilian football manager and former player, who coaches the Albania national football team. Formerly a left-back, ...

for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

finals. In a group-stage exit, his only appearance of the tournament was a 1–0 defeat to his native Spain in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Personal life

On 17 June 2017, Balliu married Marta Soler.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Metz *

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * *
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balliu, Ivan 1992 births Living people People from Selva Spanish people of Albanian descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen 21st-century Albanian sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Albanian men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Girona Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players FC Barcelona Atlètic players UD Almería players Rayo Vallecano players Primeira Liga players F.C. Arouca players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players FC Metz players Spain men's youth international footballers Albania men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Albanian expatriate sportspeople in France