Iván Salvador Edú (born 11 December 1995), known in Spain as Iban Salvador and in Africa as Iban Edú, is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Polish club Wisła Płock. Born in Spain, he plays for the Equatorial Guinea national team. Salvador began his career at Hospitalet, and after his first season was signed by

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, where he made one first-team appearance in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. He achieved totals of 122 games and 11 goals in the

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 ...

for

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 ...

, UCAM Murcia, Cultural Leonesa and Fuenlabrada. A full international for

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 ...

since 2015, he was chosen for the Africa Cup of Nations in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, 2021 and 2023, helping the team to fourth place in the first of those tournaments.

Club career

Born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Salvador joined hometown club CE L'Hospitalet's youth setup in 2002, aged six. He made his senior debut on 27 October 2013, coming on as a second-half substitute for Enrique Carreño in a 3–2 home win against Villarreal CF B 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 ...

championship. Salvador scored his first goal on 10 November, netting the last in a 5–0 away routing over AE Prat. He finished the campaign with 26 appearances and five goals, as his side missed out on promotion in the play-offs. On 4 August 2014, Salvador joined

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, being assigned to the reserves also in the third level. He made his only first-team appearance on 10 February 2016 in the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

of the

at home to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

; both teams made changes due to the visitors' 7–0 win in the first leg, with him coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for Fran Villalba. On 20 July 2016, Salvador signed a three-year contract with

side

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 ...

, with Valencia retaining a buy-back clause. He made his professional debut on 21 August, starting in a 1–0

home win against Real Oviedo, and scored his first goal in the category on 2 October, netting his team's second in a 2–3 away loss against Levante UD. On 25 January 2017, Salvador was loaned to fellow second-tier club UCAM Murcia CF until the end of the season. On 10 July 2018, after a six-month loan deal at Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, he moved to Celta de Vigo B in the third division after agreeing to a three-year contract. On 5 July 2019, Salvador signed a two-year deal with CF Fuenlabrada, newly promoted to the second division. A year later, he extended his contract to 2023, and then to 2024. In 2020–21, he was the most fouled player in the top two Spanish leagues after

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

; opponents claimed this was due to his

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

, and manager José Ramón Sandoval said it was "persecution". After leaving Fuenlabrada in mid-2023, Salvador signed with AD Ceuta FC on 10 July 2023. He failed to make an appearance however, and on 12 September that year he moved abroad to join Polish I liga side Miedź Legnica on a one-year deal with an option for another season. He was released by the club at the end of the 2023–24 season. On 30 July 2024, Salvador signed a two-year deal with another Polish second-tier club Wisła Płock.

International career

Salvador's maternal grandfather was born in the then

Spanish Guinea Spanish Guinea () was a set of Insular Region (Equatorial Guinea), insular and Río Muni, continental territories controlled by Spain from 1778 in the Gulf of Guinea and on the Bight of Bonny, in Central Africa. It gained independence in 1968 a ...

(from an area near Mongomo) and arrived in

in the 1960s along with his Galician wife, making him eligible to both Equatorial Guinea and Spain. On 7 January 2015, he made his full international debut for

, starting in a 1–1 friendly draw against

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

. The day after his debut, Salvador was included in Esteban Becker's 23-man list for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations held on home soil. He made his debut in the competition on the 17th, starting in a 1–1 draw against Congo, and scored his first goal in a 2–0 defeat of

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

, which put the nation into the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in its history, eventually finishing in fourth place. Salvador scored the only goal on 15 November 2020 in a home win over Libya in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations

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 ...

. At the finals in Cameroon, he was man of the match in group wins over

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, assisting Pablo Ganet for the only goal in the latter; he then scored in a last-16 penalty shootout victory against

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Salvador goal.''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salvador, Iban 1995 births Living people 21st-century Catalan people 21st-century Equatoguinean sportsmen Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Equatoguinean people of Catalan descent People of Galician descent Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football forwards Spanish men's footballers Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad Footballers from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Spanish people of Galician descent Segunda División players Segunda División B players I liga players CE L'Hospitalet players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Real Valladolid players UCAM Murcia CF players Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players RC Celta Fortuna players CF Fuenlabrada footballers AD Ceuta FC players Miedź Legnica players Wisła Płock players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Equatoguinean expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Poland