Iván Sánchez-Rico Soto (born 11 August 1980), known as Riki, is a Spanish 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his professional career with Deportivo, appearing in 226 competitive games and scoring 58 goals.

Club career

Real Madrid

Riki was born in Aranjuez,

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

. After spending his youth career at amateur clubs in the area he played with both

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 ...

's reserve sides, C and B. Riki's sole competitive appearance for the main squad occurred on 7 October 2003, as a late substitute for Guti in the 3–0 away win against UD San Sebastián de los Reyes in the round of 64 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 ...

Getafe

In July 2004, after having signed an extension the previous year, Riki was released and joined another team from the capital,

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

, for a €300.000 fee. 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 12 September, in a 1–2 home defeat to

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

. On 13 March 2005, Riki scored against his former employers in a 2–1 home victory. In his second season, he netted eight league goals.

Deportivo

In late June 2006, Riki moved to

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 five-year contract. He was an undisputed starter during his first year and, the following campaign, he featured less prominently but scored two more goals (five). In the first game of the 2008–09 season, against Real Madrid, Riki was stretchered off the pitch with a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury, after having subbed in himself. He was out of action for two weeks, subsequently netting on 2 November 2008 in a 3–0 away defeat of

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. Riki again suffered physical problems in the following season, but made the most of his 1,492 minutes as he scored eight goals, notably netting in the first round, a 3–2 loss at Real Madrid, and in both matches against Xerez CD (3–0 away, 2–1 at home); the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

eventually finished in tenth position. After his team's relegation in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Riki scored 14 times as they bounced back as champions of the second division, including early strikes in home and away victories over RC Celta de Vigo in the Galician derby.

Later career

When Deportivo were immediately relegated, Riki ended his seven-year tenure to remain in the top flight at

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 ...

for the next three seasons. He did not score 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 until 14 December 2013 in a 2–0 win at Rayo Vallecano, and added only one more goal in a 3–3 draw on his return to Getafe. On 31 August 2015, the 35-year-old Riki dropped down two levels to sign a two-year deal at CD Guadalajara. He left at the end of the campaign, however, having been relegated from

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 ...

International career

Riki was not capped by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at any level. He played for the Madrid autonomous team on their Football Federation's centenary on 7 June 2013, scoring a penalty in a 2–1 loss to

in Vallecas.

Honours

Deportivo *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 ...

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riki 1980 births Living people People from Aranjuez 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Community of Madrid Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Getafe CF footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Granada CF footballers CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers