Nelson Enrique Rivas López (born 25 March 1983) is a Colombian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender. Rivas has not played for a professional team since 2015.

Career

Rivas began his career with

Deportivo Pasto Asociación Deportivo Pasto, also known as Deportivo Pasto, is a Colombian professional football team based in the city of Pasto, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Estadio Departamental Libertad. D ...

. After playing for several clubs in his native Colombia, Rivas became a fixture for

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful footba ...

. He was a two-time winner of the

Copa Mustang Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, first with

Deportes Tolima Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Founded in 1954, the club has wo ...

in 2003 and for the second time with

in 2005. After leaving Cali he played for legendary club River Plate in Argentina. Rivas was bought in July 2007 by

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

for €5 millionFC Internazionale Milano 2007–08 bilancio, Require purchase i
CCIAA
and signed a contract until 30 June 2011. The transfer fee actually paid via

FC Locarno FC Locarno is a Swiss football club based in Locarno in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ...

in order to redistributed to

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

. He made his debut in a Champions League game Fenerbahçe-Inter (1-0). On 23 September 2007 it was reported in Italy that Rivas had collapsed at the Saturday training session the previous day. He went to further examinations throughout the week after the incident. On 4 October 2008 he injured his knee in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

game against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. While with Inter he became a Serie A champion, having won it in the 2007–2008 season and 2008-2009. He was loaned to

A.S. Livorno Calcio Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915 (formerly A.S. Livorno Calcio, commonly known as Livorno), is a semi-professional Italian football club based in Livorno, Tuscany. They compete in Serie D, the top tier of semi-professional Italian football after t ...

during the 2009–2010 season where he played a total of 16 games, scoring two goals. On 31 August 2011 the Colombian stopper became a free agent after his contract at Inter was rescinded by mutual consent. On 2 October 2011 Nelson Rivas signed with Montreal Impact of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. On 4 August 2012, at the 67th minute during a match between Montreal vs

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Rivas was thrown to the ground by

Antoine Hoppenot Antoine Laurent Hoppenot (born 23 November 1990) is a French footballer who currently plays for Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Career College and amateur Hoppenot played college soccer at Princeton University between 2008 and 2011. ...

, prompting Rivas to

headbutt A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

Hoppenot. A dispute between the two teams followed, with both Rivas and Philadelphia's

Jack McInerney John Seamus "Jack" McInerney (born August 5, 1992) is an American soccer player. Career Youth Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, McInerney moved with his family to Colorado, Illinois, California, and Florida before finally settling in Alpharetta, ...

being sent off with red cards. Upon league review, Rivas received a three-game suspension.

Honours

: 2003

: 2005

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Montreal Impact *

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Nelson 1983 births Living people Colombian footballers Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate soccer players in Canada Association football defenders Deportivo Pasto footballers Deportivo Cali footballers Deportes Tolima footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Inter Milan players Bologna F.C. 1909 players U.S. Livorno 1915 players CF Montréal players FC Dnipro players Atlético F.C. footballers Serie A players Ukrainian Premier League players Major League Soccer players Argentine Primera División players Categoría Primera A players Sportspeople from Valle del Cauca Department