Iván de la Peña López was born on May 6, 1976, in Santander.
He started playing football for Racing Santander but his superior quality immediately attracted the scouts from Barcelona who signed him for the youth sector in 1992. He debuted in the first team under manager Johan Cruijiff on September 3 1995 in the 2-0 away win against Valladolid. He scored the second goal. But the great Dutchman did not really consider him much and the Little Buddah, as he was nicknamed, played mainly for the B team.
In 1996-97, under manager Bobby Robson, he and Pep Guardiola became the backbone of the Barcelona midfield, supplying assists and cover for Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov and Luis Figo. That year they came second in the Liga but won the Cup Winners Cup, the Coppa del Re and the Supercopa. Barcelona won the league the following season as well as the national cup and the UEFA Super Cup. The Little Buddha was a star and since Sergio Cragnotti wanted all the good players to come to Lazio, he set his eyes on him.
The signing of de la Peña was not easy and Cragnotti was “forced” to give him a massive salary, six billion lire a year. Only Diego Armando Maradona and Ronaldo had been paid more. Moreover, Lazio also had to sign his best friend, Fernando Couto.
He arrived at Lazio overweight and it took time for him to fit in but he gave a good contribution in Lazio’s win in Turin for the Supercoppa against Juventus and also played well in the first league game at Piacenza where he hit a crossbar. But then he got injured and when he returned he was no longer the splendid player everybody had admired so far. That season he made just 23 appearances with one goal as Lazio just missed out in the scudetto race but won the Cup Winners Cup.
In 1999 he was loaned to Olympique Marseille but made little impact just like in the subsequent year when he was loaned back to Barcelona.
He returned to Rome in 2001 and made one appearance against Torino and one in Coppa Italia. In 2002 he signed for Espanyol. He stayed nine years making 206 appearances with 9 goals and became one of their most loved players. He even scored a brace against Barcelona on February 21 2009 in their 2-1 win. On May 19 2011 he announced his retirement from active football but declared he still wanted to work in soccer. Luis Enrique took the opportunity and in the summer of 2011 he made him his assistant for his new managerial job with Roma. The fans were not pleased and de la Peña terminated his contract after a month. He then became a sports agent, representing Gavi amongst others.
In the summer of 2024 he was appointed assistant to Josè Mourinho at Fenerbahçe.
The Little Buddha played in every possible Spanish national team: Under 16s (17 appearances, 2 goals), Under 17s (4, 1), Under 18s (7, 3), Under 20s (5,2), Under 21 (10, 1), Olympic team (4) and five appearances for the national team.
With Barcelona de la Peña was a fantastic player, but after leaving he was unable to stay at that level. He was a huge disappointment for Lazio, a terrible waste of money. But his arrival coincided with that of Fernando Couto who went on to become a legend so at least something positive came out of it!!!
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Cup Winners Cup | Super Coppa |
1998-99 | 23 (1) | 15 | 3 | 4 (1) | 1 |
2001-02 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Total | 25 (1) | 16 | 4 | 4 (1) | 1 |
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