Iván López Álvarez (born 29 June 1994), commonly known as Ivi, is a Spanish 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Polish club

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

Club career

Spain

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Ivi finished his youth career with local

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 ...

. On 24 February 2013, still a junior, he made his senior debut, coming on as a late substitute for the reserves in a 2–0 home win against

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 Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a c ...

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 ...

. Ivi started the 2013–14 season still with the B-team and in the third division, notably scoring twice in a 3–0 away victory over

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

. On 27 March 2014, he made his main squad and

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 ...

debut, replacing

Pablo Sarabia Pablo Sarabia García (; born 11 May 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Spain national team. Mainly an attacking midfielder, he can also play as a right winger. After pl ...

for the final 20 minutes of an eventual 0–1 home loss to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

. On 16 June 2015, Ivi signed a three-year deal with another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, Sevilla Atlético also in the third tier. On 8 October of the following year he scored his first professional goals, netting a brace in a 2–1 home defeat of

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. On 7 August 2017, Ivi agreed to a four-year contract with top-flight club

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

for a reported fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

1.5 million. He scored his first goal for them on 26 August, through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in a 2–2 home draw against Deportivo de La Coruña, and repeated the feat on 9 September to help to a 1–1 draw at title holders

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Ivi was loaned to fellow league side

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

on 27 July 2018, for one year. The following 31 January, he signed with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

of division two also in a temporary deal. On 13 August 2019, Ivi joined SD Huesca on loan for the second-tier season. The following 16 January, however, he left and moved to fellow league team SD Ponferradina just hours later also on loan.

Raków Częstochowa

Ivi terminated his contract with Levante on 28 August 2020, and joined Polish side

four days later. He helped them win the Polish Cup in his first season, equalising the 2–1 final victory over Arka Gdynia. On 17 July 2021, Ivi converted his attempt in Raków's penalty shootout victory against reigning Ekstraklasa champions

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

in the

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

. The following 2 May, he scored in the final of the domestic cup to help defeat

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

3–1 and secure a second consecutive conquest of the tournament.

Career statistics

Honours

Huesca *

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 ...

: 2019–20 Raków Częstochowa * Polish Cup:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * Ekstraklasa Player of the Season: 2021–22 * Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2021–22 *Ekstraklasa Midfielder of the Season: 2021–22 *Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: October 2020, September 2021, April 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivi 1994 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Madrid Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Getafe CF B players Getafe CF footballers Sevilla Atlético players Levante UD footballers Real Valladolid players Sporting de Gijón players SD Huesca footballers SD Ponferradina players Ekstraklasa players Raków Częstochowa players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland