Iván de la Peña

Born in Santander, Cantabria, de la Peña was recruited to FC Barcelona's academy in 1991 and made his senior debut for the reserves two years later. He went on to play 37 games for them, and first-team manager Johan Cruyff handed him his official debut for the main squad on 3 September 1995 as he came on as a substitute – and scored – in a 2–0 away win against Real Valladolid; at 19, he was initially regarded as the natural successor to Pep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour and found himself dropped, although he netted a career-best seven league goals in that rookie season. With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, de la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He subsequently developed a partnership with Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the squad that won the Copa del Rey/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup/UEFA Supercup treble in 1997. He was also voted best young player by newspaper El País twice during this timeframe. De la Peña was deemed surplus to requirements at Barça once again after another Dutch coach was appointed, Louis van Gaal, and he was consequently transferred to SS Lazio along with Fernando Couto. However, he failed to establish himself in Serie A and was loaned to Olympique de Marseille. This move was not successful either, and he returned to Barcelona on loan for 2000–01; after only appearing nine times throughout the season under Lorenzo Serra Ferrer (one start, against Racing de Santander), he returned to Italy, being…

De la Peña, alongside the likes of Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Morientes and Raúl, played for the Spanish under-21s at both the 1996 UEFA European Championship and the 1996 Summer Olympics. He helped the nation reach the quarter-finals in the latter. Despite this, de la Peña did not make his debut for the senior team until 9 February 2005, at the age of 28 years and 9 months in a 5–0 victory over San Marino for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers held in Almería. He made a further four appearances until the end of the year, his last being against the same opponents.

De la Peña was known for his technical skills and accurate passing ability.

De la Peña's son, also named Iván (born 2001), played as a defender in the lower leagues. On 6 July 2000, he married Lourdes Asensi, daughter of the legendary Barcelona player Juan Manuel Asensi.