Alejandro Francés Torrijo (born 1 August 2002) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Club career

Francés was born in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

, and was a

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

youth graduate. On 17 December 2019, before even having appeared for the B-side, he made his made his first team debut by starting in a 1–0 away win against

UD Socuéllamos Unión Deportiva Socuéllamos is a Spanish football team based in Socuéllamos, Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. Founded in 1924, it plays in , holding home games at 2,500-seat '' Estadio Paquito Jiménez'' . Hi ...

, for the season's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

; along with fellow debutant Andrés Borge, both became the first players of the 21st century to appear for the club. Francés made his professional debut on 21 January 2020, coming on as a late substitute for Pichu Atienza in a 3–1 home win over

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, also for the national cup. Five days later, he first appeared with the B-team by starting in a 1–2

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

home loss against

SD Tarazona Sociedad Deportiva Tarazona is a Spanish football team based in Tarazona, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1969, it plays in , holding home games at ''Municipal'', with a 1,500-seat capacity. History The club was founded in 1 ...

. Francés made his

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

on 16 June 2020, starting in a 3–1 away win against

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Primera Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio Anxo ...

. On 20 August, he renewed his contract until 2024. The following February, he was given a permanent first team place and received the number 6 jersey. On 26 July 2024, Francés signed a five-year contract with

side

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

International career

Francés represented the Spain under-17s at the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

, making two appearances.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frances, Alejandro 2002 births Living people Footballers from Zaragoza Spanish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Segunda División players Tercera División players Deportivo Aragón players Real Zaragoza players Girona FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen