Ildefons Lima Solà (born 10 December 1979) is an Andorran former 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 played as a

centre-back 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 ...

. 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 Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

(137 and 11).

Early life

Lima was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

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 , in the Spanish league system. The club was founded in 1942 and currently plays its home fixtures at Estadi Nacional. In spite ...

, 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 , holding home matches at the 3,000-seat capa ...

and

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

, splitting the following campaign abroad between

Ionikos F.C. Ionikos Football Club () is a Greek football club based in Nikaia, Greece, competing in the Gamma Ethniki. It is part of the multi-sport club Ionikos Nikaias. From 1989 to 2007 Ionikos spent 16 out of 18 seasons in the Alpha Ethniki/Super Leag ...

of Greece and C.F. Pachuca in Mexico. In the summer of 2002, Lima returned to Spain, remaining one and a half seasons at newly relegated

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

in the

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 ...

. He scored his only two goals as a professional in the country on 22 December 2002 and 14 June 2003, respectively against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

(1–1) and

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

(1–0 away win); he appeared just three times in 2003–04, ended with relegation. He moved in January 2004 to another team 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'' ...

, and 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 the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

in division three. Lima then played four years with

US Triestina Calcio 1918 Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fou ...

in Italy. With the

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

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) ** Smal ...

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 Sw ...

of the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. 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 7th tier of the Spanish football league system and the second 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 ...

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

Primera Divisió The Primera Divisió (First Division), also known as 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 Fede ...

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

FC Santa Coloma FC Santa Coloma is an Andorran professional football club based in Santa Coloma, parish of Andorra la Vella, that competes in the Primera Divisió. It is the most successful team in both Primera Divisió and Copa Constitució, having won b ...

. He scored for them on 8 July in the

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

away to

FC Banants Football Club Urartu (, translated ''Futbolayin Akumb Urartu''), commonly known as Urartu, is an Armenian professional football team based in the capital Yerevan that currently plays in the Armenian Premier League. The club won the Armenian Cup f ...

, 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 ...

; he also claimed four national championships in a row. Having spent four years with Santa Coloma, Lima signed with

Inter Club d'Escaldes Inter Club d'Escaldes is an Andorra, Andorran professional association football, football club based in Escaldes-Engordany. The club currently plays in Primera Divisió, where it is a three-time champion. History Inter Club d'Escaldes was foun ...

in August 2018, winning their first league in history in 2019–20 and repeating the feat the next two campaigns. Following another spell of the same length, he returned to FC Andorra to play for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, with the club now owned by

Gerard Piqué Gerard Piqué Bernabeu (born 2 February 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is considered to be one of the best defenders of his generation. Initially a talented student athlete at Barcelona's La ...

International career

Lima made his debut for

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

, becoming their youngest player and goalscorer. In the process, he earned 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 The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

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 Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. 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 association football, football ch ...

qualification phase, he netted a sixth-minute

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

to give the side a 1–0 lead over

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

, but in an eventual 1–2 home defeat. 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 thre ...

, 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 capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

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

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

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, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

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. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

. In 2020, the

Andorran Football Federation The Andorran Football Federation () 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 organises the football league, Primera Divisió, the Copa Constitució and Andorran Supe ...

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 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

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 professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an inter ...

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

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. On 10 June 2022, after featuring five minutes of the 2–1 victory over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

fixture, he became at 41 years and 6 months Andorra's oldest player ever, breaking

Juli Sánchez Juli Sánchez (born 20 June 1978) is an Andorran international footballer. He currently plays as a forward for Inter Club d'Escaldes. Sánchez formerly played for FC Andorra, CF Balaguer and CD Binéfar; he made his international debut in 1996, ...

's record. On 16 June 2023, the 43-year-old Lima became the oldest player to appear at a

UEFA European Championship qualifying The UEFA European Championship qualifying, branded as the European Qualifiers, is the process that UEFA-affiliated national football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship. In this article, the years represent t ...

match. He retired from the national team after a Euro 2024 qualifier against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 12 September 2023; he was

substituted Substitution may refer to: Arts and media *Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion *Substitution (theatre), an acting methodology Music *Chord substitution, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression *Tritone ...

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. Lima's record of youngest-ever capped player was broken by

Marc Pujol Marc Pujol Pons (born 21 August 1982) is an Andorran footballer who plays as a midfielder for AC Escaldes in Andorra's Primera Divisió and the Andorra national football team. Career He finished in third place at Primera Catalana 2000–01, ...

in 2000, by one month.

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. 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 Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to ...

, 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

Club

International

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

Honours

Santa Coloma *

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

Copa Constitució The Copa Constitució or Andorran Cup, also known is Copa Constitució Valira Seguretat for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup competition in Andorra organized by the Andorran Football Federation. The Cup annual tournament began i ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Inter d'Escaldes *Primera Divisió: 2019–20,

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 ...

, 2021–22 *Copa Constitució:

2020 The year 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 even ...

Andorran Supercup The Andorran Supercup () is the Association football, football Supercup of Andorra. History It has been played since 2003. It is a single match at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Andorran First Division and the Andorran Cu ...

: 2020, 2021

References

External links

* * *
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lima, Ildefons 1979 births Living people Andorran people of Catalan descent Spanish emigrants to Andorra Naturalised citizens of Andorra Sportspeople of Spanish descent Spanish men's footballers Andorran men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football central defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol 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 US Triestina Calcio 1918 players Swiss Super League players AC Bellinzona players Primera Divisió players FC Santa Coloma players Inter Club d'Escaldes players Andorra men's international footballers Andorran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's 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