Francisco "Paco" Molina Simón (29 March 1930 – 14 November 2018) was a football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Born in Spain, he represented the Chile national team at international level.

Life and club career

Born in

Súria Súria () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Bages in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Cardener river between Manresa and Cardona. The area is best known for its deposits of potassium salts In chemistry, a sal ...

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

after arriving there on board of

SS Winnipeg SS ''Winnipeg'' was a French steamer notable for arriving at Valparaíso, Chile, on 3 September 1939, with 2,200 Spanish immigrants aboard. The refugees were fleeing Spain after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The Chilean P ...

as one of the 2.200 exiles which escaped from the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. In 1942 he was naturalized Chilean. During 1940s Molina joined

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played thei ...

youth set-up with prior spell playing at amateur club Deportivo Roberto Parra. Finally in 1948, he was promoted to Wanderers first-adult team squad aged eighteen. In Chile, he played for Universidad Católica, Audax Italiano,

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Primera División de Chile. It has a branch of women's football, and competes ...

and

Coquimbo Unido Coquimbo Unido is a Chilean football club based in the city of Coquimbo. The club was founded August 30, 1958 and will play in the Chilean Primera División on 2022. Their home games are played at the Estadio Municipal Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso ...

. He is considered the first Chilean player to be successful in Spain after his step in Atlético Madrid from 1953 to 1956.

International career

Molina made his international debut in a friendly match versus Yugoslav club

Hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

on 18 February 1953, where he scored a goal and Chile won 4–1. Including this match, he made a total of 8 appearances for the Chile national team, representing it at both the

1953 South American Championship The South American Championship 1953 was a football tournament held in Peru and won by Paraguay with Brazil second. Argentina, and Colombia withdrew from the tournament. Francisco Molina from Chile became top scorer of the tournament with ...

, becoming the top goalscorer of the tournament with 8 goals in 6 matches, and the friendly match versus

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 1959.

Coaching career

He began his coaching career in

, at the same he was a player. Next, he coached several clubs at the Chilean Primera División, including

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

Honours

Audax Italiano *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

: 1957 Universidad Católica *

: 1961 Individual *

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...

top scorer:

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

References

External links

Francisco Molina
at PartidosdeLaRoja
Francisco Molina
at MemoriaWanderers {{DEFAULTSORT:Molina, Francisco 1930 births 2018 deaths People from Bages Sportspeople from the Province of Barcelona Naturalized citizens of Chile Chilean footballers Chile international footballers Santiago Wanderers footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Atlético Madrid footballers Audax Italiano footballers Unión Española footballers Coquimbo Unido footballers Chilean Primera División players La Liga players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Chilean football managers Coquimbo Unido managers Deportes La Serena managers Unión Española managers Colo-Colo managers Deportes Antofagasta managers O'Higgins F.C. managers Everton de Viña del Mar managers Chilean Primera División managers Association football midfielders