Iván Zarandona Esono (born 30 August 1980) is a

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

and former

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 ...

. Mainly a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, he also 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 the better part of his career in Spain, representing

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

at the professional level. Born in Spain, Zarandona was a member of the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Born in

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, Spain, Zarandona spent the vast majority of his career in the lower leagues of that country, having a

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 ...

stint with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

in the 2004–05 season where he played less than half of the games.Iván Zarandona completa el centro del campo del Burgos CF (Iván Zarandona completes Burgos CF midfield)

Diario de Burgos The ''Diario de Burgos'' is a Spanish daily newspaper. Its primary market is the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. The newspaper is based in Burgos. Its first edition was published in 1891. History On 1 ...

, 23 July 2015 (in Spanish) Rarely settling with a club, he also represented

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a cap ...

CD Ferriolense Club Deportivo Ferriolense is a Spanish football team based in Son Ferriol, in the autonomic community of Balearic Islands. Founded in 1965 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Municipal de Son Ferriol'', with a 3,000-seat capacity. T ...

RCD Mallorca B Real Club Deportivo Mallorca B is a Spanish football team based in Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded in 1967, it is the reserve team of RCD Mallorca and currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadi i Son Bibiloni'', with ...

Real Betis B Betis Deportivo Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded in 1942, it is the reserve team of Real Betis and currently plays in , holding home games at Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol, with a 3000 seating-cap ...

Caravaca CF Caravaca Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Caravaca de la Cruz, in the Region of Murcia. Founded in 1967 and dissolved in 2011, it held home games at ''Estadio Antonio Martínez El Morao'', with a capacity of 2,000 spectators. ...

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 ...

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a capacity of 7,813 seaters. History ...

Real Murcia Imperial Real Murcia Club de Fútbol "B", also known as Real Murcia Imperial, is a Spanish football team based in Murcia, in the namesake community. Founded in 1922, it is the reserve team of Real Murcia and plays in , holding home games at ''Campus Unive ...

UD Los Palacios Unión Deportiva Los Palacios was a Spanish football team based in Los Palacios y Villafranca, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1964, and dissolved in 2011, it held home games at '' Estadio Las Marismas'', with a capacity of ...

UD Pájara Playas de Jandía Unión Deportiva Pájara Playas de Jandía was a Spanish football team based in Pájara, island of Fuerteventura, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1996 and dissolved in 2011, it held home games at '' Estadio Benito Alonso ...

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Jaén, Spain, Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de La Vict ...

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Primera Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio Anxo ...

SD Noja Sociedad Deportiva Noja is a Spanish football team based in Noja, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1963, it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio La Caseta'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History Founded in 1963, Noj ...

and

Burgos CF Burgos Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The original Burgos CF (1936), Burgos CF was dissolved in 1983 after becoming Insolven ...

. In the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, he totalled 309 matches for several teams.

International career

Zarandona played for the Spain under-18 team but, in June 2003,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

allowed him to change his national association. This rule originally applied only for under-21 players not yet capped for senior sides, but FIFA also allowed overage ones to apply until December 2004. Zarandona started representing his "new nation",

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

, in October 2003, 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 ...

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 ...

first round tie loss against

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

Personal life

Zarandona's father was

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

, and his mother was from

. His older brother Benjamín successfully represented Valladolid,

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 ...

and the Spain under-21 team, before switching to Equatorial Guinea at senior level.La plaza donde Benjamín jugaba al "fútbol banco" (The square where Benjamín played "bench football")
El Día de Valladolid, 26 March 2016 (in Spanish)

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Score and result list Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score Zarandona goal.''

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarandona, Ivan 1980 births Living people 20th-century Spanish people 21st-century Equatoguinean sportsmen Equatoguinean people of Basque descent Spanish people of Basque descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Equatoguinean men's footballers Footballers from Valladolid Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Hong Kong Premier League players RCD Mallorca B players RCD Mallorca players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Caravaca CF players Real Valladolid players Rayo Vallecano players Zamora CF footballers Real Murcia Imperial players CD Leganés players Real Jaén footballers CD Lugo players Burgos CF footballers CF Palencia footballers Atlético Astorga FC players CD Tropezón players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Equatoguinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Association football agents