Iván Zarandona Esono (born 30 August 1980) is an

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

n former

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 ...

and a sports agent. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he also operated as a central defender. He spent the better part of his career in Spain, representing Valladolid at the professional level. Zarandona was a member of the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Born in Valladolid,

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, Spain, Zarandona played the vast majority of his career in the lower leagues of that country, having a second division stint with Real Valladolid in the 2004–05 season where he played in less than half of the games. Rarely settling with a club, he also represented CF Extremadura, CD Ferriolense, RCD Mallorca B,

Real Betis B Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

, Caravaca CF, Rayo Vallecano,

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 ...

, Real Murcia Imperial, UD Los Palacios,

UD Pájara Playas de Jandía Unión Deportiva Pájara Playas de Jandía was a Spanish football team based in Pájara, island of Fuerteventura, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1996 and dissolved in 2011, it held home games at '' Estadio Benito Alo ...

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

, Real Jaén,

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

, SD Noja and Burgos CF. In the third level, he appeared in more than 300 official matches for several teams.

International career

Zarandona played for the Spain under-18 team but, in June 2003,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

allowed the player to change his nationality. This rule originally applied only for under-21 players not yet capped for the senior sides, but FIFA also allowed overage ones to apply, until December 2004. Zarandona started representing his "new nation",

, in October 2003, in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

qualification first round tie loss against Togo.

International goals

(Equatorial Guinea score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zarandona goal)

Personal life

Zarandona's father is Basque, and his mother was from

. His older brother,

Benjamín Benjamín Akoto Asamoah (born 4 January 1994) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays for Cypriot club Doxa as a midfielder. Club career Born in Accra, Benjamín arrived at the youth academy of Atlético Madrid from the Rayo Majadahonda counterpar ...

, successfully represented Valladolid, Real Betis and the Spain under-21 team, before switching to the Equatorial Guinea at senior level.La plaza donde Benjamín jugaba al "fútbol banco" (The square where Benjamín played "bench football")
El Día de Valladolid, 26 March 2016 (in Spanish)

Club statistics

References

External links

* * *
HKFA profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarandona, Ivan 1980 births Living people Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Spanish people of Basque descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Equatoguinean people of Basque descent Footballers from Valladolid Spanish footballers Equatoguinean footballers Citizens of Equatorial Guinea through descent Association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players RCD Mallorca B players RCD Mallorca players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Caravaca CF players Real Valladolid players Rayo Vallecano players Zamora CF footballers Real Murcia Imperial players CD Leganés players Real Jaén footballers CD Lugo players Burgos CF footballers CF Palencia footballers CD Tropezón players Atlético Astorga FC players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Spain youth international footballers Equatorial Guinea international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Spanish expatriate footballers Equatoguinean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Association football agents