Giovanny Patricio Espinoza Pabón (born 12 April 1977) is a former

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian

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 defender.

Club career

His strong physique and speed helped his old club side

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

win two league championships in 2001 and 2004. His nickname is ''La Sombra'', which translates as "the shadow", because of his size, he creates large shadows. In the 2006 edition of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, Espinoza was nominated for a place in FIFA's ideal 11, which rewards the top players in each position. On 25 January 2007, Giovanny Espinoza was transferred from LDU Quito to Vitesse. There he has to replace

Ruud Knol Ruud Knol (born 13 March 1981) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back. Club career Knol was born in Zevenaar, in the province of Gelderland and star ...

. He signed for one-a-half-year until June 2008. On 10 February 2007, he made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

debut for Vitesse against

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

. The following match, he made his first appearance at home in a 0–0 draw against

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 66th minute for Colin van Mourik. The following season, he became a regular starter. On 14 January 2008, Espinoza was signed by Brazilian club Cruzeiro. He captained of the side and showed some very impressive displays and leadership on the field. There were many rumors swirling around in late 2008, some had Espinoza signing with Argentinian struggling giants, River Plate and that unspecified English teams were also on the hunt for La Sombra. On 15 January 2009, it was confirmed that Espinoza would be playing for

Barcelona Sporting Club Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

and that his presence was asked by the head coach

Benito Floro Benito Floro Sanz (born 2 June 1952) is a Spanish football manager. Football career Floro was born in Gijón, Asturias. During his professional career he managed Albacete Balompié (two spells, starting off in 1989 in Segunda División B and le ...

. His final club was

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian non-professional 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 Seg ...

Birmingham City

In June 2009, Espinoza's agent claimed that a fee had been agreed for the player to move to English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, and the parties were only awaiting final paperwork for the deal to be completed. The two-year deal was confirmed on 24 June 2009, where he will play alongside compatriot

Christian Benítez Christian Rogelio Benítez Betancourt (1 May 1986 – 29 July 2013), also known as Chucho, was an Ecuadorian professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with El Nacional in Ecuador and then joined Santos Laguna, with ...

. Espinoza was an unused substitute in the league game against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

on 22 August 2009, and made his Birmingham debut three days later, playing the whole of the 2–1 second round

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

win away against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. On 12 January 2010 his contract with Birmingham was cancelled by mutual consent, having only made two League Cup appearances for the club.

Unión Española

In 2010, Giovanny Espinoza signed for

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

on loan for a contract of three years.

Deportivo Quito

In January 2012, he signed a contract with

for the 2012 season.

International career

He was named in the Ecuador national side for the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

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 ...

s. He currently is the seventh highest capped player for his country behind

Luis Capurro Luis Enrique Capurro Bautista (born May 1, 1961 in Esmeraldas, Ecuador) is a former football player. He played 100 games for the Ecuador national team

with 100 caps. He made his international debut in 1996 just a week after his 19th birthday in a World Cup qualification match where Ecuador beat Peru 4–1. Espinoza and Hurtado together hold the international record for the longest unbroken pairing in the position of centre half – they have played the last 65 games together, dating back to 1999. This is partly due to South American nations playing more international qualification matches than any other region. In the 2006 edition of the

, Espinoza was nominated for a place in FIFA's ideal 11, which rewards the top players in each position. He was also included in Ecuador's squad for the 2001, 2004, and 2007 Copas America.

References

External links

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Giovanni Espinoza
at PlayMakerStats {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinoza, Giovanny 1977 births Living people People from Ibarra, Ecuador Association football central defenders Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador international footballers S.D. Aucas footballers C.F. Monterrey players L.D.U. Quito footballers SBV Vitesse players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players C.S.D. Independiente del Valle footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers Birmingham City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Unión Española footballers S.D. Quito footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Liga MX players Eredivisie players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Premier League players English Football League players Chilean Primera División players 2001 Copa América players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 Copa América players Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Chile