Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo (born 16 August 1974) is an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian politician and 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Hurtado participated at six

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

s and two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s. With 168 international appearances for

between 1992 and 2014, he is considered one of the best Ecuadorian players of all time and was the most capped South American male footballer until

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

overtook him during the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He is also the 17th-most-capped male international footballer. In 2013, Hurtado entered

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and was elected for the

PAIS Alliance The Revolutionary and Democratic Ethical Green Movement (, MOVER) was a centre to centre-right neoliberal political party in Ecuador. In 2016, it had 979,691 members. Until 2021 it was known as the PAIS Alliance (Proud and Sovereign Homeland) (P ...

Club career

Hurtado started his career with the small club of his hometown,

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 has since folded after the 2017/2018 season. The club was founded on December 29, ...

, at the age of 16. A year later he moved on to one of Ecuador's biggest clubs in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

, 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 reading of the game. Ivan made a big impact in his first club,

Celaya Celaya (; Otomi: ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The muni ...

, where he led them to the Mexican league finals. He then moved to Tigres. He then moved on to the

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 ...

in Spain playing for Real Murcia. After a mostly successful spell with

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

, he moved on to Al Arabi in the

Qatari League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wit ...

, impressing many over there. After the

in Germany, where Hurtado shone, it was reported that high-profile clubs such as English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, and Spanish

Recreativo Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home games at ''Estadio Nuevo Colombi ...

and

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

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, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

where he played for

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

, he led the defence of the team, becoming captain in the back-to-back titles in 2007. In mid-2009, he returned to

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Second Category of Pi ...

for the remainder of their season. In 2011, he returned to play for

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club (), internationally known as Barcelona de Guayaquil, 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 fo ...

for one year, then he finished his career with Grecia in 2012.

International career

Hurtado made his senior international debut on 24 May 1992 in a friendly against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

at the

Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores The Estadio Nacional Doroteo Guamuch Flores is a multi-use national stadium in Guatemala City, the largest venue in Guatemala. It was built in 1948, to host the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1950, and was renamed after long-distance r ...

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

; the game ended 1-1, with Hurtado conceding a penalty. At just 17 years and 285 days, he became the youngest player ever to play for Ecuador. Hurtado was one of the key players who played a major role in securing a first-ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

berth for Ecuador in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. He had such an impressive tournament, that he was appointed to succeed former Ecuadorian star

Alex Aguinaga Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Ale ...

to be the captain of a new generation of an ever-improving Ecuador side. His best performances came in

's dream tournament in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. His defence left stars such as Polish forward

Jacek Krzynowek Jacek () is a Polish given name of Greek origin related to Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto (Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint ( Catalan, ...

, Costa Rican striker

Paulo Wanchope Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa. As a player he was a striker who notably ...

, and English players

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger. He was long touted as a child prodigy and as the hottest prospect in English football, wi ...

and

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

at the

2007 Copa América 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. The c ...

, where his performance was very poor and criticised by many of his countrymen as the main reason for Ecuador's early elimination. Hurtado started the first two games against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

but was on the bench the whole game against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Upon making his 143rd international appearance on 10 September 2007 in a friendly against El Salvador, Hurtado became the most-capped South American footballer of all time, surpassing

Cafu Marcos Evangelista de Morais (born 7 June 1970), known as Cafu (), is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. Widely regarded as one of the greates ...

's record of 142 caps for Brazil. Hurtado was also called up for the first two

2010 World Cup qualifiers Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

, miserably losing both matches. As a consequence, he along with teammate

Ulises de la Cruz Ulises Hernán de la Cruz Bernardo (born 8 February 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired footballer, who since 2013 has been a member of his country's National Assembly for the governing Mover. A defender, he played 101 times for the Ecuador nat ...

, was excluded from the squad for the next round against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. 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." Hurtado has appeared in more

qualification matches than any other player in history, though his record for most overall international caps by a South American player was surpassed by

in December 2022.

Playing style

Once a top class defender, with good technique and an ability to read the game, he is known in Spanish by his fans as " Bam Bam" 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.

Political career

At the

2013 Ecuadorian general election General elections were held in Ecuador on 17 February 2013 to elect the President, the National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies and members of the Andean Parliament. The incumbent President Rafael Correa was re-elected by a wide margin. Correa' ...

, Hurtado was chosen as member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the National Constituency. Hurtado serves as member of

Agustín Delgado Agustín Javier Delgado Chalá (born 23 December 1974) is an Ecuadorian politician and former professional footballer who played as a forward. Nicknamed ''El Tín'', he was the all-time top scorer for the Ecuador national team with 31 goals ...

and

, former teammates of Hurtado at the national team, also serve for the Pais Alliance in the National Assembly.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Emelec *

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from the Italian Serie A and the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A), or as Liga Pro Ecuabet for sponsorship re ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, 1994 Atlético Nacional * Primera A:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Ecuador *

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Korea Cup The Korea Cup (, Korea Cup International Football Tournament) was an international Association football, football tournament held annually in South Korea from 1971 to 1999. History The Korea Cup was created with the name ''President of Sout ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

References

External links

International statistics
at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurtado, Ivan 1974 births Living people Footballers from Esmeraldas, Ecuador Ecuadorian men's footballers FIFA Men's Century Club Men's association football central defenders Ecuador men's international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 Copa América players La Liga players C.S. Emelec footballers Celaya F.C. footballers Tigres UANL footballers Querétaro F.C. footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers Real Murcia CF players C.F. Pachuca players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Al Ahli SC (Doha) players Atlético Nacional footballers Millonarios F.C. players S.D. Quito footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Ecuadorian Serie A players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Qatar Stars League players Members of the second National Assembly (Ecuador) PAIS Alliance politicians Ecuadorian sportsperson-politicians Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar