Francisco "Fran" Sol Ortiz (born 13 March 1992) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

. He played for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

early in his career, spending nearly all of that time out on loan or in

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s. He had 2 successful years with Willem II of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

, totalling 88 matches and 47 goals. His four-year spell at

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

was mostly spent in his country's

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

Club career

Real Madrid

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Sol joined

's youth system in July 2002 at the age of 10, and began playing with the ''Alevín'' B-team. In the 2010–11 season, he made his senior debut with

Real Madrid C Real Madrid Club de Fútbol C, commonly known as Real Madrid C, was a Spanish association football team that played in the Tercera División – Group 7. It was Real Madrid's second reserve team. They played their home games at La Ciudad del ...

, in a match against

CF Trival Valderas Club de Fútbol Trival Valderas Alcorcón is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 2004, it currently plays in '' Tercera División RFEF – Group 7'', holding home matches at '' Estadio La Canaleja'', ...

in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. For the 2012–13 campaign, Sol was loaned to

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

. He made his professional debut on 25 August 2012, coming on as a substitute for

Mauro Quiroga Mauro Daniel Quiroga (born 7 December 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for Argentine club Platense. He is popularly known by his nickname "Comandante". Club career Born in Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Río ...

in the 77th minute of a 1–1 away draw against

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. Early into the following month, he made his first start in the

, helping his team to the same result at

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

. On 14 December 2012, Sol scored the 3–2 game winner against

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

. On 16 January of the following year, however, his loan spell was ended and he joined

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

of the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, in the same situation. He made his debut with the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

on 20 January 2013, replacing Diego Cervero for the last minutes of the away match against

CF Fuenlabrada Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...

Villarreal

Sol moved to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

's reserves on 2 July 2014. On 25 April 2015, he appeared in his first competitive game with the

Valencians Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Aut ...

' main squad, replacing

Jaume Costa Jaume Vicent Costa Jordá (; born 18 March 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for RCD Mallorca. He spent most of his career at Villarreal, making 268 appearances, and also had two spells with Valencia. Club care ...

in a 0–0

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

draw at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

Willem II

Sol moved abroad for the first time on 25 June 2016, signing a three-year deal at

club Willem II and scoring on his debut on 6 August, a 1–4 home defeat to

SBV Vitesse SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally as well Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, football club located in the municipality of Arnhem. Establish ...

; two weeks later he netted the winner in a 2–1 victory at

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

, his team's first win there in history. In October 2017, Sol underwent an operation to remove a testicular tumour. The following 10 March, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 5–0 win over league leaders

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

at the

Koning Willem II Stadion Koning Willem II Stadion () is a multi-purpose stadium in Tilburg, Netherlands, and the home ground of Willem II Tilburg. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is able to hold 14,700 people, was built in 1995 and renovated ...

, putting him on top of the season's goalscoring charts. Sol scored another three goals on 26 August 2018 in a victory by the same score over

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

. Across his 30-month stay in the Netherlands he was the top flight's highest goalscorer with 39, five ahead of nearest rival

Luuk de Jong Luuk de Jong (; born 27 August 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. De Jong previously played for DZC '68, De Graafschap, Twente, Borussia Mönc ...

Dynamo Kyiv

In January 2019, Sol signed for

FC Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...

of the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

for an estimated €3 million fee. He made his debut on 14 February away to

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...

in the last 32 of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, starting in a 2–2 draw. On his maiden league appearance 11 days later, he scored in a 5–0 home win over

FC Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( uk, ФК «Зоря» Луганськ ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk is based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, because of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team play their games at Slavutych-Arena in Zapori ...

. His debut season was ended in the next match against

FC Desna Chernihiv Football Club Desna Chernihiv ( uk, ФК «Десна» Чернігів) is a Ukrainian football club based in Chernihiv. The original name of the club was "Avanhard" (FC Avanhard Chernihiv) during its first year of existence as part of a repu ...

, due to a shoulder injury. Sol returned to Spain and its second division on 2 October 2020, after agreeing to a one-year loan contract with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

. The following 7 July, he moved to

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

in the same league also in a temporary deal. Used almost equally as a starter and substitute, he scored five goals – including two in a 3–1 victory at

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

on 23 April 2022 while playing 14 minutes– as the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

made the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

semi-finals. On 6 July 2022, Sol was loaned for a third time to a side in his country's second division, this time Málaga. More often than not a substitute, he contributed just three goals – plus one in the cup – as his team suffered relegation.

AEK Larnaca

In July 2023, Sol moved to the third foreign country of his career, signing for

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

of compatriot

José Luis Oltra José Luis Oltra Castañer (born 24 March 1969) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of Cypriot club AEK Larnaca FC. Playing career Born in Valencia, Oltra spend the vast majority of his 14-year senior car ...

. In just his second game in the

on 28 August, he scored four goals in a 5–5 home draw with

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club currentl ...

Personal life

Sol learned four foreign languages: French, Dutch, English and Russian. A fan of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

literature, he wrote his own novel in 2020 titled ''Madrid 2035'', in which the protagonist is a former

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player.

Career statistics

Honours

Dynamo Kyiv *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

: 2019–20 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competiti ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sol, Fran 1992 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers CD Lugo players Real Oviedo players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players CD Tenerife players SD Eibar footballers Málaga CF players Eredivisie players Willem II (football club) players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Dynamo Kyiv players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus