Diego Rivas Gutiérrez (born 27 April 1980) 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 le ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He amassed totals of 364 matches and six goals across the two major levels of Spanish football, including 122 games and three goals in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

where he represented

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

and

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

(over five seasons).

Club career

Born in

Ciudad Real Ciudad Real (, ; en, "Royal City") is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region. History It was founde ...

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, , ), or Castile La Mancha, is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and ...

, Rivas started playing as a senior in

's reserves, but could never break into the first team. In the 2002–03 campaign, he served a loan at neighbouring

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

.Qué fue de… Diego Rivas: un currante del fútbol que fue concejal del PP (What happened to… Diego Rivas: football handyman who was a PP councillor)
20 minutos, 8 June 2018 (in Spanish) Having returned to Atlético, Rivas was definitely waived and, in January 2004, had a second Getafe spell, still contributing 17 games to a first ever top-flight promotion. He continued to be ever-present from

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, as the side achieved two consecutive ninth-place finishes in

. Rivas spent

the first The First may refer to: * ''The First'' (album), the first Japanese studio album by South Korean boy group Shinee * ''The First'' (musical), a musical with a book by critic Joel Siegel * The First (TV channel), an American conservative opinion ne ...

of the following two seasons with

, appearing irregularly as the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

were relegated. He was loaned to second-division

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

for 2007–08, in another ill-fated campaign. Rivas excelled in the following second-tier seasons with Real Sociedad, rarely missing a match and helping the club to return to the top flight in his second year. He featured in 32 games in 2010–11 (31 starts), scoring against his former team Atlético Madrid and

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

, both fixtures ending in home losses, with the club eventually retaining its status. In late June 2011, the 31-year-old Rivas signed for Hércules CF in division two, agreeing on a 2+1 contract. He played regularly during his spell in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, and on 9 August 2013 joined

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

of the same league. Rivas made 20 starts during the campaign as the ''Armeros'' were promoted to the top division for the first time ever, being coached by his former Real Sociedad teammate

Gaizka Garitano Gaizka Garitano Aguirre (born 9 July 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of SD Eibar. Over 11 seasons as a player, he amassed Segunda División totals of 315 matches and 37 goals, main ...

.El Eibar no necesitó aclimatarse (Eibar needed no adjustment)

El Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' (English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by co ...

, 2 June 2014 (in Spanish) On 25 August 2014, he signed a one-year deal with

UE Llagostera C.F. Badalona Futur S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, Barcelona, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Founded in 1947, it currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 3. Its home stadium is ''Estadi Municipal'', wit ...

, newly promoted to the second tier. Rivas retired in May 2018 at age 38, after two seasons in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

with CD Manchego Ciudad Real.

Personal life

Rivas' younger brother, Marcos, was also a footballer and a midfielder. He played almost exclusively in amateur football, his biggest achievement being appearing in 13 games for

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Municipal de Sant ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, 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 Foot ...

. After retiring, Rivas served as

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the People's Party in the Ciudad Real city hall.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2009–10Griezmann, candidato a jugador revelación de Segunda por su excelente campaña (Griezmann, best newcomer candidate in ''Segunda'' for his excellent campaign)
Marca, 24 June 2010 (in Spanish) Eibar *Segunda División: 2013–14

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Diego 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Ciudad Real Footballers from the Province of Ciudad Real Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Madrid C players Atlético Madrid B players Atlético Madrid footballers Getafe CF footballers Real Sociedad footballers Cádiz CF players Hércules CF players SD Eibar footballers CF Badalona Futur players UD Socuéllamos players