Íñigo López Montaña (born 23 July 1982) is a Spanish former 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, López began his career with

Atlético Madrid B Atlético de Madrid B is a Spanish football team based in Madrid. Founded on 17 September 1963, it is the reserve team of Atlético Madrid and currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 2. They play their home games at Cerro del Espin ...

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 ...

in 2004, going on to spend six seasons in that tier, his next club being

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

neighbours

UD San Sebastián de los Reyes Unión Deportiva San Sebastián de los Reyes, also known as Sanse is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Nuevo Mat ...

. In 2007, he signed for

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo Domingo, ...

also in the community, appearing in 35 league games in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

(five goals) but only five in

the following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The The Following (season 1), first s ...

. López was again a regular starter for Alcorcón in 2009–10, and scored a career-best seven goals as the team promoted to

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 the first time ever. He also took part in the memorable '' Alcorconazo'' in the

round of 32 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, w ...

of 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 ...

, in which the club secured the most famous victory in its history after defeating

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

4–0 at home and 4–1 on aggregate. In the summer of 2010, López joined

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

in the second division, and achieved a second consecutive promotion, also the second in a row for the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns, while contributing four goals. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 1 October 2011 in a 1–0 away loss against

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 ...

, and netted four times during the season – two of those in narrow wins over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

(1–0, away) and

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

(2–1, at home)– to help the side to retain their league status. López moved abroad for the first time on 19 June 2013, with the 30-year-old signing a two-year contract with

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

from the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. He returned to Spain on 23 January of the following year, after being loaned to

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

for five months. On 1 August 2014, López agreed to a one-year deal at

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

, recently promoted to the top flight. He played 21 matches as his team were immediately relegated, and signed for

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

in the second tier on 14 July 2015. López helped to achieve promotion to the top division in the 2017–18 campaign, but contributed just four appearances to this feat. He subsequently terminated his contract, and signed a one-year deal with

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la ...

in the same league after having trained with them since August. On 31 January 2019,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

López moved to division two side

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

on a six-month deal.

Personal life

López's older brother,

Jorge Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios ...

, was also a footballer.

Honors

Alcorcón *

: 2009–10

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Inigo 1982 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Logroño Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Las Rozas CF players Atlético Madrid B players UD San Sebastián de los Reyes players AD Alcorcón footballers Granada CF footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Córdoba CF players SD Huesca footballers Extremadura UD footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Super League Greece players PAOK FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Spanish sportsmen