José Rivera

José Daniel Rivera Martínez (born 8 May 1997) is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Peruvian Liga 1 club Universitario de Deportes.

Club career Rivera made his way through the youth ranks of Unión Comercio and, after three years, he was promoted to the first team in the 2016 season under manager Walter Aristizábal. He made his debut on 11 September 2016 in a 1–0 victory against César Vallejo. In May 2017, Rivera scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 victory against Alianza Atlético. He played a total of 22 league games in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In that last season, he did not play regularly due to the good form of forward Cristian Lasso. From the 2018 season onwards, Rivera became a regular player, scoring 7 goals in 31 matches. In the 2019 season, he played almost all of Comercio's Liga 1 matches, scoring 4 goals and making 5 assists in 33 games, being the team's player with the most assists; however, Comercio was relegated at the end of the year.

Having made 87 league appearances for Unión Comercio, he left the club at the end of the 2019 season to join Cusco FC, signing a deal until the end of 2021 in February 2020. On 24 November 2021 it was confirmed that Rivera would join Carlos A. Mannucci for the 2022 season.

Ahead of the 2023 season, Rivera then moved to Universitario de Deportes. He played his first game with Universitario on matchday 3, in a 4–0 victory against Academia Cantolao, and scored his first goal on matchday 13, in a 2–0 victory against Sporting Cristal. That season, the club won the national title after defeating Alianza Lima in the finals, which gave Rivera his first professional title.

International career In May 2019, Rivera was called up for the Peruvian U23 national team, under manager Nolberto Solano, to play the 2019 Pan American Games. He played one game and was on the bench in the remaining three games. In October 2019, he was called up once again, to the squad that was going to play in the 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, where he played 2 matches. In June 2024, he was called to the senior team for the 2024 Copa América.

Career statistics

International

Honours Universitario de Deportes Peruvian Primera División: 2023 Peruvian Primera División: 2024 Peruvian Primera División: 2025