Paco Soler

Francisco Manuel 'Paco' Soler Atencia (born 5 March 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central midfielder, and a manager.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Soler and the second or maternal family name is Atencia.
Paco Soler
Personal information
Full name Francisco Manuel Soler Atencia
Date of birth (1970-03-05) 5 March 1970
Place of birth Palma, Spain
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
CIDE Mallorca
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1991 Mallorca B 69 (9)
1991–2004 Mallorca 339 (19)
Total 408 (28)
National team
1991–1992 Spain U23 11 (1)
Teams managed
2007 Beira-Mar
2009–2010 Atlético Baleares
2013 Atlético Baleares
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Olympic medal record
Representing  Spain
Men's Football
1992 BarcelonaTeam Competition

He only played with Mallorca during his career, amassing La Liga totals of 168 matches and three goals over nine seasons and spending 14 years with the first team overall. He subsequently became a coach.

Club career

A hard-nosed player, Soler was born in Palma, Majorca, Balearic Islands, and played his entire career for local club RCD Mallorca. He made his first-team debut in the 1990–91 season, and went on to make 419 overall appearances for them.

In 1996–97, Soler was instrumental in helping Mallorca return to La Liga, and also appeared regularly the following campaign as the team finished fifth. He was named on the substitutes bench for the final of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.[1]

In his final two years, however, Soler played almost no part in the side's lineups, and retired after 2003–04 at the age of 34. Subsequently he took up coaching and, in January 2007, was appointed at Portuguese Primeira Liga club S.C. Beira-Mar after it signed a cooperation deal with Inverfutbol, a Spanish-based sporting company, not being able to help the Aveiro team avoid relegation.[2]

In February 2009, Soler returned to his native region, replacing former Spanish international Francisco at the helm of lowly CD Atlético Baleares and suffering another relegation.[3] Four years later, he left his post as director of football and again became their manager.[4]

International career

Soler was part of the Spain squad that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, appearing in four matches for a total of 277 minutes.[5]

Honours

Club

Mallorca

International

Spain U23

See also

References
  1. Segurola, Santiago (20 May 1999). "El Mallorca pierde con orgullo" [Mallorca lose proudly]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. "Beira-Mar: Carvalhal despedido para dar lugar a Paco Soler" [Beira-Mar: Carvalhal sacked to make way for Paco Soler] (in Portuguese). Portal d'Aveiro. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  3. "El Baleares firma su descenso" [Baleares sign their relegation]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 27 April 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  4. Montes de Oca, Carlos (19 February 2013). "Pep Sansó dimite como técnico del Balears" [Pep Sansó resigns as Balears manager]. Última Hora (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. "La Roja de 1992, nuestra medalla de oro Olímpica" [1992's La Roja, our Olympic gold medal] (in Spanish). Antena 3. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  6. Morenilla, Juan (25 February 2007). "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
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