Francisco Soler 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 12 in)
Playing position 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

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

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

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 debuts in the 1990–91 season, and went on to amass nearly 400 overall appearances for the main squad.

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 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final.[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.

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.[3]

Honours

Club

Mallorca

International

Spain U23

See also

References

  1. "El Mallorca pierde con orgullo" [Mallorca lose proudly]. El País (in Spanish). 20 May 1999. 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); Portal d'Aveiro, 9 January 2007 (in Portuguese)
  3. "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.
  4. "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). 25 February 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
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