Ildefons Lima Solà (born 10 December 1979) is a 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for FC Andorra B and the Andorra national team. He has played club football in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra. At international level, Lima holds the records for most appearances and most goals for

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

as of 2022.

Early life

Lima was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

to an Andalusian father and a Catalan mother. His family moved to Andorra when he was two months old.

Club career

Lima's first years as a senior were spent with

FC Andorra Futbol Club Andorra is a professional football club based in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. The club was founded in 1942 and currently plays its home fixtu ...

, playing one season each in the Spanish third and fourth divisions. Subsequently, he played at both levels with

RCD Espanyol B Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona "B" is the reserve team of the RCD Espanyol, club based in Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The team was founded in 1991 and plays in the Segunda Federación, Segunda Federación – ...

and

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Sant Andreu, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home mat ...

, splitting the following campaign abroad between

Ionikos F.C. Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Nikaia, Attica, Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of th ...

of Greece and

C.F. Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional football team based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX. Founded by Cornish miners from Camborne and Redruth in 1901, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was on ...

in Mexico. In the summer of 2002, Lima returned to Spain, playing one and a half seasons with

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 ...

in the second tier and moving in January 2004 to another club in that league,

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'', ...

. He spent the following campaign with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

in division three. Lima then played four years with

U.S. Triestina Calcio Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its ...

in Italy. With the

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

side, he was occasionally used 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 ...

at the request of elusive chairman Flaviano Tonellotto. In 2009, aged nearly 30, he switched countries again, signing for

AC Bellinzona AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swi ...

of the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

. After two seasons in Switzerland and one back at Triestina, Lima signed again for FC Andorra, now of the

Primera Catalana The Primera Catalana is the 6th tier of the Spanish football league system and the highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 1991 to replace Regional Preferent as the first level of Catalonia and was split i ...

, instead of several offers to play in the principality's

Primera Divisió The Primera Divisió (First Division) or Lliga Multisegur Assegurances for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of men's football in Andorra. The league was launched in 1995 sponsored by the local federation (Andorran Football Federation) whic ...

. On 12 June 2014, he joined the latter league's champion

FC Santa Coloma FC Santa Coloma is an Andorran football team based in the village of Santa Coloma, in the parish of Andorra la Vella. The club currently plays in Primera Divisió, and is its current champion and most successful team with thirteen titles. It is ...

. He scored for them on 8 July in the first qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

away to

FC Banants Football Club Urartu ( hy, Ուրարտու Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ, translated ''Futbolayin Akumb Urartu''), commonly known as Urartu, is an Armenian professional football team based in the capital Yerevan that currently plays in the ...

, as they advanced on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

International career

Lima made his debut for

aged 17, in the country's second ever game on 22 June 1997, scoring in a 4–1 friendly defeat in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He went on to lead the national team's scoring charts, and also amassed more than 130

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. In June 2009, near the end of the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualifying campaign, Lima scored his first competitive goal for over eight years and six years overall, netting the last goal of a 1–5 away defeat against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. On 9 September 2014, in Andorra's first match of the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

qualification phase, he netted a sixth-minute

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

to give the side a 1–0 lead over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, but in an eventual 1–2 home loss. After

Óscar Sonejee Óscar Sonejee Masand (born 26 March 1976) is an Andorran former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He began his club career as a youth player with Sant Julià before playing for several teams based in Andorra, including three ...

, 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

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. On 22 February 2017 he opened a 2–0 away win over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

in another exhibition game, ending an 86-game winless run. Lima surpassed Sonejee's national record of 106 internationals on 16 August 2017, when he played a friendly against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

. In 2020, the

Andorran Football Federation The Andorran Football Federation ( ca, Federació Andorrana de Futbol) is the governing body of football in Andorra. It was founded in 1994 and joined as a member of FIFA and UEFA in 1996. It organizes the football league, Andorran First Division, ...

removed him from the team – against the wishes of coach

Koldo Álvarez Jesús Luis "Koldo" Álvarez de Eulate Güergue (born 4 September 1970) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently manager of Andorra. Playing career Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Basque Country, Spain, Álvarez spent his ...

– when the player spoke out against football resuming in the principality without

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

testing. FIFPro, the world's trade union for footballers, called for

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

to intervene in his favour. On 3 June 2021, Lima became just the third European footballer (after

Billy Meredith William Henry Meredith (30 July 1874 – 19 April 1958) was a Welsh professional footballer. He was considered one of the early superstars of football due to his performances, notably for Manchester City and Manchester United. He won each ...

and

Jari Litmanen Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely consider ...

) to be capped in four different decades when playing in a friendly defeat to

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

Personal life

Despite debuting for the Andorra national team when he was 17, Lima became a citizen when he turned 20 years of residence in the country. His older brother,

Antoni Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the fem ...

, 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.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Andorra's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lima goal''.

References

External links

* * *
National team data
*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lima, Ildefons 1979 births Living people Andorran people of Spanish descent Andorran people of Catalan descent Spanish emigrants to Andorra Naturalised citizens of Andorra Spanish footballers Andorran footballers Footballers from Barcelona Association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CF Damm players FC Andorra players RCD Espanyol B footballers UE Sant Andreu footballers UD Las Palmas players Polideportivo Ejido footballers Rayo Vallecano players Ionikos F.C. players Liga MX players C.F. Pachuca players Serie B players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players Swiss Super League players AC Bellinzona players Primera Divisió players FC Santa Coloma players Inter Club d'Escaldes players Andorra international footballers Andorran expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Mexico Andorran expatriate sportspeople in Greece Andorran expatriate sportspeople in Italy Andorran expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Andorran expatriate sportspeople in Mexico FIFA Men's Century Club