Ruslan Elá Ayana (born 7 November 1983) is a 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

or a

centre-back 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 ...

. Born in Spain, he played for the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Elá was born in

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

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 ...

. In his nine-year senior career he never played in higher than the Spanish fourth division, representing

CF Sporting Mahonés Club de Fútbol Sporting Mahonés was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Mahón, Menorca, in the autonomous community of Balearic Islands prior to its 2012 dissolution. History C.F. Sporting Mahonés resulted from ...

CD Villanueva Club Deportivo Villanueva was a Spanish football team based in Villanueva de Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It was founded in 1951 and dissolved in June 2009, it held home matches at ''Estadio San Miguel'', with a capacity o ...

CD Lumbreras Club Deportivo Lumbreras is a football team based in Puerto Lumbreras, Murcia. Founded in 1968, the team plays in . The club's home ground is '' Estadio Municipal''. Season to season ---- *7 seasons in ''Tercera División Tercera División ( ...

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club ha ...

(two spells),

CF Villanovense Club de Fútbol Villanovense is a Spanish football team based in Villanueva de la Serena, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1992 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Romero Cuerda'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. ...

CD Benicarló Club Deportivo Benicarló, commonly referred to as Benicarló, is a Spanish football team based in Benicarló in the autonomous Valencian Community. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Ángel "Pichi" Alonso'', with a ...

, CD Blanes,

CF Gavà Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats. History The club was founded ...

, CD Masnou and FC Levante Las Planas, retiring at only 27.

International career

Elá earned six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

. Two of those arrived during the

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

qualifiers, in the tie against

Togo national football team The Togo national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe nationale de football du Togo'') represents Togo in international Association football, football and is controlled by the Togolese Football Federation. The national football tea ...

(1–0 home win, 0–2 away loss).

Personal life

Elá's older brother, Jacinto, was also a footballer. A winger, he too played mostly in Spanish amateur football, having an unsuccessful spell with

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Ruslan also worked at ''Admissions Test de Nivell'' in

Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...

.Llistat d'admissions test de nivell (List of level tests admissions)
at XTec (in Catalan)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ela, Ruslan 1983 births Living people Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Footballers from Las Palmas Spanish men's footballers Equatoguinean men's footballers 21st-century Equatoguinean sportsmen Men's association football defenders Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players CF Damm players CD Logroñés footballers CF Villanovense players CF Gavà players CD Masnou players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad 21st-century Spanish sportsmen