Iban Salvador

Iván Salvador Edú (born 11 December 1995), known in Spain as Iban Salvador and in Africa as Iban Edú, is a professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in Spain, he plays for the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Salvador began his career at Hospitalet, and after his first season was signed by Valencia, where he made one first-team appearance in the Copa del Rey. He achieved totals of 122 games and 11 goals in the Segunda División for Valladolid, UCAM Murcia, Cultural Leonesa and Fuenlabrada.

A full international for Equatorial Guinea since 2015, he was chosen for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, 2021 and 2023, helping the team to fourth place in the first of those tournaments.

Club career
Born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Salvador joined hometown club CE L'Hospitalet's youth setup in 2002, aged six. He made his senior debut on 27 October 2013, coming on as a second-half substitute for Enrique Carreño in a 3–2 home win against Villarreal CF B in the Segunda División B championship.

Salvador scored his first goal on 10 November, netting the last in a 5–0 away routing over AE Prat. He finished the campaign with 26 appearances and five goals, as his side missed out on promotion in the play-offs.

On 4 August 2014 Salvador joined Valencia CF, being assigned to the reserves also in the third level. He made his only first-team appearance on 10 February 2016 in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey at home to FC Barcelona; both teams made changes due to the visitors' 7–0 win in the first leg, with him coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for Fran Villalba.

On 20 July 2016, Salvador signed a three-year contract with Segunda División side Real Valladolid, with Valencia retaining a buy-back clause. He made his professional debut on 21 August, starting in a 1–0 Segunda División home win against Real Oviedo, and scored his first goal in the category on 2 October, netting his team's second in a 2–3 away loss against Levante UD.

On 25 January 2017, Salvador was loaned to fellow second-tier club UCAM Murcia CF until the end of the season. On 10 July 2018, after a six-month loan deal at Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, he moved to Celta de Vigo B in the third division after agreeing to a three-year contract.

On 5 July 2019, Salvador signed a two-year deal with CF Fuenlabrada, newly promoted to the second division. A year later, he extended his contract to 2023, and then to 2024. In 2020–21, he was the most fouled player in the top two Spanish leagues after Lionel Messi; opponents claimed this was due to his simulation, and manager José Ramón Sandoval said it was "persecution".

After leaving Fuenlabrada in mid-2023, Salvador signed with AD Ceuta FC on 10 July 2023. He failed to make an appearance however, and on 12 September that year he moved abroad to join Polish I liga side Miedź Legnica on a one-year deal with an option for another season. He was released by the club at the end of the 2023–24 season.

International career
Salvador's maternal grandfather was born in the then Spanish Guinea (from an area near Mongomo) and arrived in Catalonia in the 1960s along with his Galician wife, making him eligible to both Equatorial Guinea and Spain. On 7 January 2015, he made his full international debut for Equatorial Guinea, starting in a 1–1 friendly draw against Cape Verde.

The day after his debut, Salvador was included in Esteban Becker's 23-man list for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations held on home soil. He made his debut in the competition on the 17th, starting in a 1–1 draw against Congo, and scored his first goal in a 2–0 defeat of Gabon, which put the nation into the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in its history, eventually finishing in fourth place.

Salvador scored the only goal on 15 November 2020 in a home win over Libya in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification. At the finals in Cameroon, he was man of the match in group wins over Algeria and Sierra Leone, assisting Pablo Ganet for the only goal in the latter; he then scored in a last-16 penalty shootout victory against Mali.

International goals

 * Score and Result shows Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first