Ildefons Lima

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Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Infobox football biography Ildefons Lima Solà (born 10 December 1979) is an Andorran former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

He played club football in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra. In a 26-year international career, the longest in men's football history, Lima set the records for most appearances and most goals for Andorra (137 and 11).[1]

Early life

Lima was born in Barcelona, Catalonia[2] to an Andalusian father and a Catalan mother.[3] His family moved to Andorra when he was two months old.[4]

Club career

Lima's first years as a senior were spent with FC Andorra, playing one season each in the Spanish third and fourth divisions. Subsequently, he played at both levels with RCD Espanyol B and UE Sant Andreu, splitting the following campaign abroad between Ionikos F.C. of Greece and C.F. Pachuca in Mexico.[5]

In the summer of 2002, Lima returned to Spain, remaining one and a half seasons at newly relegated UD Las Palmas in the Segunda División. He scored his only two goals as a professional in the country on 22 December 2002 and 14 June 2003, respectively against Levante UD (1–1) and CD Numancia (1–0 away win);[6][7] he appeared just three times in 2003–04, ended with relegation.[8] He moved in January 2004 to another team in that league, Polideportivo Ejido, and spent the following campaign with Rayo Vallecano in division three.[9]

Lima then played four years with US Triestina Calcio 1918 in Italy.[10] With the Trieste side, he was occasionally used as a forward at the request of elusive chairman Flaviano Tonellotto.[11] In 2009, aged nearly 30, he switched countries again, signing for AC Bellinzona of the Swiss Super League.[12]

After two seasons in Switzerland and one back at Triestina,[13] Lima signed again for FC Andorra, now of the Primera Catalana, instead of several offers to play in the principality's Primera Divisió.[14] On 12 June 2014, he joined the latter league's champion FC Santa Coloma.[15] He scored for them on 8 July in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League away to FC Banants, as they advanced on away goals;[16] he also claimed four national championships in a row.[17]

Having spent four years with Santa Coloma, Lima signed with Inter Club d'Escaldes in August 2018,[18] winning their first league in history in 2019–20 and repeating the feat the next two campaigns.[17] Following another spell of the same length, he returned to FC Andorra to play for the reserve team, with the club now owned by Gerard Piqué.[19]

International career

Lima made his debut for Andorra aged 17 years and 6 months, in the country's second ever game on 22 June 1997, scoring in a 4–1 friendly defeat in Estonia, becoming their youngest player and goalscorer.[19] In the process, he earned more than 130 caps.[20][21]

In June 2009, near the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Lima scored his first competitive goal for over eight years and six years overall, netting the last goal of a 5–1 away loss against Belarus. On 9 September 2014, in Andorra's first match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualification phase, he netted a sixth-minute penalty to give the side a 1–0 lead over Wales, but in an eventual 1–2 home defeat.[22]

After Óscar Sonejee, Lima was the second Andorran to reach a century of caps, playing his 100th game on 1 June 2016, a 2–0 friendly loss to Estonia in Tallinn.[23] On 22 February 2017 he opened a 2–0 away win over San Marino in another exhibition game, ending an 86-game winless run.[24]

Lima surpassed Sonejee's national record of 106 internationals on 16 August 2017, when he played a friendly against Qatar in Burton-on-Trent.[25] In 2020, the Andorran Football Federation removed him from the team – against the wishes of coach Koldo Álvarez – when the player spoke out against football resuming in the principality without COVID-19 testing. FIFPRO, the world's trade union for footballers, called for FIFA to intervene in his favour.[26]

On 3 June 2021, Lima became just the third European footballer (after Billy Meredith and Jari Litmanen) to be capped in four different decades when playing in a friendly defeat to Republic of Ireland.[27] On 10 June 2022, after featuring five minutes of the 2–1 victory over Liechtenstein in a UEFA Nations League fixture, he became at 41 years and 6 months Andorra's oldest player ever, breaking Juli Sánchez's record.[28][29][30]

On 16 June 2023, the 43-year-old Lima became the oldest player to appear at a UEFA European Championship qualifying match.[31] He retired from the national team after a Euro 2024 qualifier against Switzerland on 12 September 2023; he was substituted after 23 minutes to a standing ovation by both sets of supporters and replaced by Ricard Fernández, a player born two years into his international career. His 26-year spell for his country was the longest in men's football history.[32][19]

Lima's record of youngest-ever capped player was broken by Marc Pujol in 2000, by one month.[33][34]

Personal life

Despite debuting for the Andorra national team when he was 17, Lima became a citizen of the country when he lived there for 20 years.[4] His older brother, Antoni, was also a footballer and a defender. He too spent most of his career in the lower leagues of Spain, and the pair shared teams at Ionikos.[35][36]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[37]
Club Season League National cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
FC Andorra 1996–97 Segunda División B 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
1997–98 32 0 0 0 0 0 — 32 0
1998–99 Tercera División 26 2 0 0 0 0 — 26 2
Total 58 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 58 2
Espanyol B 1999–2000 Tercera División 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 0
Sant Andreu 2000–01 Tercera División 25 2 0 0 0 0 — 25 2
Ionikos 2001–02 Super League Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Pachuca 2002 Liga MX 3 1 0 0 0 0 — 3 1
Las Palmas 2002–03 Segunda División 22 2 1 0 0 0 — 23 2
2003–04 3 0 0 0 0 0 — 3 0
Total 25 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 26 2
Poli Ejido 2003–04 Segunda División 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 0
Rayo Vallecano 2004–05 Segunda División B 34 1 0 0 0 0 — 34 1
Triestina 2005–06 Serie B 21 0 0 0 0 0 — 21 0
2006–07 34 1 2 0 0 0 — 36 1
2007–08 21 0 3 0 0 0 — 24 0
2008–09 4 0 2 0 0 0 — 6 0
Total 80 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 87 1
Bellinzona 2009–10 Swiss Super League 24 4 0 0 0 0 — 24 4
2010–11 19 0 1 0 0 0 — 20 0
Total 43 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 44 4
Triestina 2011–12 Lega Pro Prima Divisione 17 2 0 0 0 0 — 17 2
FC Andorra 2012–13 Primera Catalana 17 5 0 0 0 0 — 17 5
2013–14 28 10 0 0 0 0 — 28 10
Total 45 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 45 15
Santa Coloma 2014–15 Primera Divisió 12 3 4 4 2 1 1 0 19 8
2015–16 17 4 2 1 2 1 — 21 6
2016–17 18 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 22 0
2017–18 17 3 1 1 2 1 1 0 20 5
2018–19 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0
Total 64 10 9 6 9 3 2 0 84 19
Inter d'Escaldes 2018–19 Primera Divisió 15 0 1 0 – – — 16 0
2019–20 20 2 1 0 – – — 21 2
2020–21 10 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 13 2
2021–22 8 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 12 2
2022–23 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0
Total 53 5 3 0 7 0 2 1 65 6
FC Andorra B 2022–23 Tercera Catalana 13 0 – – – – — 13 0
Career total 463 45 21 6 16 3 4 1 504 55

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Andorra[38][20] 1997 2 1
1998 7 0
1999 8 0
2000 8 1
2001 3 1
2002 4 1
2003 2 0
2004 5 0
2005 5 0
2006 0 0
2007 6 0
2008 6 1
2009 5 2
2010 4 0
2011 6 0
2012 7 0
2013 6 0
2014 6 2
2015 7 1
2016 6 0
2017 8 1
2018 8 0
2019 9 0
2020 0 0
2021 5 0
2022 1 0
2023 3 0
Total 137 11
Scores and results list Andorra's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lima goal.[38][20]
List of international goals scored by Ildefons Lima
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 22 June 1997 Linnastaadion, Kuressaare, Estonia File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia 1–3 1–4 Friendly
2 2 September 2000 Communal d'Aixovall, Andorra La Vella, Andorra File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus 2–1 2–3 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 25 April 2001 Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland File:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland 1–0 1–3
4 27 March 2002 Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta File:Flag of Malta.svg Malta 1–0 1–1 Friendly
5 4 June 2008 Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella, Andorra File:Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan 1–1 1–2
6 11 February 2009 S. Darius and S. Girėnas, Kaunas, Lithuania File:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 1–2 1–3
7 6 June 2009 Neman Stadium, Grodno, Belarus File:Flag of Belarus.svg Belarus 1–5 1–5 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
8 9 September 2014 Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra File:Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales 1–0 1–2 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
9 13 October 2014 File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel 1–1 1–4
10 11 October 2015 File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium 1–2 1–4
11 22 February 2017 Olimpico di Serravalle, Serravalle, San Marino File:Flag of San Marino.svg San Marino 1–0 2–0 Friendly

Honours

Santa Coloma

Inter d'Escaldes

See also

References

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External links

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