Iván Hurtado

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Iván Hurtado
Personal information
Full name	Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo
Date of birth	August 16, 1975 (age 31)
Place of birth	Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Height	180cm
Nickname	Bam-Bam
Playing position	defender
Club information
Current club	Atletico Nacional
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990 1991–94 1994–99 1999–01 2001 2001–03 2003–04 2004–2007 2007-Present	Esmeraldas Emelec Atletico Celaya UANL Tigres La Piedad Barcelona SC Real Murcia Al Arabi Atletico Nacional	15 (0)
National team2
1993-present	Ecuador	137 (5)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 3 April 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo (born August 16, 1975 in Esmeraldas, Ecuador) is a professional football central defender. He is known in Spanish by his fans as "Bambam" for bamming the football with his feet like the Hanna-Barbera character does with his club. He currently plays for Atletico Nacional and has been captain for Ecuador since 2000.

He started his career with the small club of his hometown, Club Deportivo Esmeraldas Petrolero, at the age of 16. A year later he moved on to one of Ecuador's biggest clubs in Guayaquil, Club Sport Emelec, and had two stellar seasons, including a championship with the club with a free kick goal he executed. Hurtado holds the record as the youngest Ecuadorian to play for his country at just 17 years and 285 days. His excellent play warranted a switch to the Mexican leagues where he even further developed his defending techniques and his intelligent read of the game. Ivan made a big impact in his first club, Celaya, where he led them to the Mexican league finals. He then moved to UANL Tigres.

Meanwhile, Ivan was one of the key players who played a major role in securing a first ever World Cup berth for Ecuador in 2002. He had such an impressive tournament, he was appointed the captain of a new generation of a hungry and ever-improving Ecuador side.

Ivan's playing style differs from his national partner, Giovanny Espinoza. While Espinoza is a very large player who uses his size, power and speed to overwhelm his adversary, Hurtado is considered to be very classy and often needs no contact at all to disposess his adversary. Ivan also makes very clean tackles, organizes his back line as well as the best of them, and can even display confidence with the ball at his feet, and he can occasionally make surprising dashes foward.

A notable long and short passer, Ivan also takes free kicks well. Although not able to the bend the ball as well as some other famous free kick takers, Ivan strikes the ball with such force that it is hard to judge and time his shots.

Ivan Hurtado has also appeared in more CONMEBOL Fifa World Cup qualifiers than any other player, and if he can stay injury free and keep his excellent form, he can add further to his tally. He has said he dreams of playing in one more World Cup, and based on the evidence we have seen, there is no telling when this excellent player will hang up his boots.

	Ecuador squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Cevallos | 2 Porozo | 3 Hurtado | 4 de la Cruz | 5 Obregón | 6 Guerrón | 7 Asencio | 8 L. Gómez | 9 Kaviedes | 10 Aguinaga | 11 Delgado | 12 Ibarra | 13 Fernández | 14 Burbano | 15 M. Ayoví | 16 Chalá | 17 Espinoza | 18 C. Tenorio | 19 Méndez | 20 E. Tenorio | 21 Sánchez | 22 Viteri | 23 W. Ayoví | Coach: H. Gómez

	Ecuador squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Villafuerte | 2 Guagua | 3 Hurtado | 4 de la Cruz | 5 Perlaza | 6 Urrutia | 7 Lara | 8 Méndez | 9 Borja | 10 Kaviedes | 11 Delgado | 12 Mora | 13 Ambrosi | 14 Castillo | 15 Ayoví | 16 Valencia | 17 Espinoza | 18 Reasco | 19 Saritama | 20 E. Tenorio | 21 C. Tenorio | 22 Lanza | 23 Benítez | Coach: Suárez