Iñaki Caña Pavón (; born 19 September 1975) is a Spanish retired

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, and is currently the goalkeeping coach of club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Playing career

Born in

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 ...

, Caña came through the youth ranks of local side

. He then played for Barcelona C – a reserve team of the Spanish giants – in

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 ...

, but never made a first-team appearance. After spending one year at

Terrassa Terrassa () is a city in central-eastern Catalonia and in the province of Barcelona (Spain). It is one of the two capitals of Vallès Occidental county, being the larger in both area and population. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ''Te ...

and two seasons at Yeclano, Caña retired from the game in 1999.

Coaching career

Caña created his own goalkeeper academy in Barcelona in 2013. From July 2015 to January 2017, he worked as goalkeeping coach at

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

in the third tier of

Spanish football Football is the most popular sport in Spain, with 61% of the population interested in it. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, and others) as well as many playe ...

. Afterwards, Caña joined Danish side Nordsjælland, helping them finish third in the 2017–18 Superliga.

Brentford

In June 2018, Caña moved to England as first-team goalkeeping coach of then-

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. In the 2018–19 season, he shared the same office with set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, who would join Premier League club Arsenal in July 2021. Caña played a major part in Spanish goalkeeper David Raya's transfer from

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

to Brentford in the summer of 2019. He left his role of first-team goalkeeping coach in December 2019, and was replaced by Andy Quy. Caña and Raya remained friends, and the latter went on to share the 2019–20 Championship Golden Glove award with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

goalkeeper

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton F. ...

, and helped the Bees get promoted to the Premier League in the following season via the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Arsenal

On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Mikel Arteta – who was 37 years old then and had never managed before – as the new head coach. Four days later, Caña was appointed as goalkeeping coach at Arsenal, with assistant coaches Albert Stuivenberg and Steve Round also joining Arteta's backroom staff. They led the team to a record-extending 14th FA Cup win on 1 August 2020, beating Chelsea 2–1 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Caña was also part of Arteta's coaching team that guided the Gunners to win the 2020 FA Community Shield on penalties against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 29 August 2020 and win the

2023 FA Community Shield The 2023 FA Community Shield was the List of FA Community Shield matches, 101st FA Community Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competitions. It took place at Wembley St ...

on penalties against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 6 August 2023. Arsenal tried to sign David Raya in 2020 and 2021 at Caña's insistence, but they failed. Caña was a key figure in Raya's successful loan move from Brentford to Arsenal in the summer of 2023. Raya claimed the

Premier League Golden Glove The Premier League Golden Glove is an annual association football award presented to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League. In football a team's defence or goalkeeper may be said to "keep a clean sheet" if they ...

award in his debut campaign with the Gunners, then completed his permanent move to Arsenal in July 2024. In an exclusive interview with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

on 14 August 2024, Raya credited Caña for the role he played in his development at both Brentford and Arsenal.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cana, Inaki 1975 births Living people Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Barcelona C players Yeclano CF players Terrassa FC footballers Segunda División B players Association football goalkeeping coaches Spanish football managers CE Sabadell FC non-playing staff Spanish expatriate football managers FC Nordsjælland non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England