Iván Hurtado

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Iván Hurtado
Personal information
Full name	Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo
Date of birth	August 16, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth	Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Height	180cm
Nickname	Bam-Bam
Position	defender
Club information
Current club	Al-Arabi
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1990 1991-94 1994-99 1999-01 2001 2001-03 2004 2004-05 2005-	Esmeraldas Emelec Atletico Celaya UANL Tigres La Piedad Barcelona SC Real Murcia CF Pachuca Al-Arabi
National team**
1992-	Ecuador	133 (5)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of July 2006.

Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo (born August 16, 1974 in Esmeraldas, Ecuador) is a professional football central defender. He is known in Spanish by his fans as "Bambam" for bamming the football with his feet like the Hanna-Barbera character does with his club. He currently plays for Al-Arabi after starting his career with the small club of his hometown, Club Deportivo Esmeraldas Petrolero, at the age of 16.

The year after, he moved on to one of Ecuador's biggest clubs in Guayaquil, Club Sport Emelec, and had two stellar seasons, including a championship with the club with a free kick goal he executed. His excellent play warranted a switch to the Mexican leagues where he even further developed his defending techniques and his intelligent read of the game. Ivan made a big impact in his first club, Celaya, where he led them to the Mexican league finals. He then moved to UANL Tigres.

Meanwhile, Ivan was one of the key players who played a major role in securing a first ever World Cup berth for Ecuador in 2002. He had such an impressive tournament, he was appointed the captain of a new generation of a hungry and ever-improving Ecuador side.

Hurtado has a humanitarian side to him as well, opening an orphanage in his hometown which houses over 300 children in poverty. Has 128 caps for the national team and counting after making his scoring debut back on 24 May 1992 against Guatemala in a 1-1 draw. He has 5 international goals.

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 disposess 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 foward.

A notable long and short passer, Ivan also takes free kicks well. Although not able to the bend the ball as well as some other famous free kick takers, Ivan strikes the ball with such force that it is hard to judge and time his shots.

Ivan Hurtado has also appeared in more CONMEBOL Fifa World Cup qualifiers than any other player, and if he can stay injury free and keep his excellent form, he can add further to his tally. He has said he dreams of playing in one more World Cup, and based on the evidence we have seen, there is no telling when this excellent player will hang up his boots.

He was involved in controversy in Ecuador after appearing nude in a magazine, next to another famous ecuadorian female artist. There are emotional links attributed to this photo shoot between these two, yet to be confirmed or denied by the involved parties.

	Ecuador squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Cevallos | 2 Porozo | 3 Hurtado | 4 de la Cruz | 5 Obregón | 6 Guerrón | 7 Asencio | 8 L. Gómez | 9 Kaviedes | 10 Aguinaga | 11 Delgado | 12 Ibarra | 13 Fernández | 14 Burbano | 15 M. Ayoví | 16 Chalá | 17 Espinoza | 18 C. Tenorio | 19 Méndez | 20 E. Tenorio | 21 Sánchez | 22 Viteri | 23 W. Ayoví | Coach: H. Gómez

	Ecuador squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Villafuerte | 2 Guagua | 3 Hurtado | 4 de la Cruz | 5 Perlaza | 6 Urrutia | 7 Lara | 8 Méndez | 9 Borja | 10 Kaviedes | 11 Delgado | 12 Mora | 13 Ambrosi | 14 Castillo | 15 Ayoví | 16 Valencia | 17 Espinoza | 18 Reasco | 19 Saritama | 20 E. Tenorio | 21 C. Tenorio | 22 Lanza | 23 Benítez | Coach: Suárez