Ildefons Lima


Ildefons Lima Solà is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Inter Club d'Escaldes 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 as of 2019.

Early life

Born in Barcelona, Catalonia to an Andalusian father and a Catalan mother, Lima's family moved to Andorra when he was two months old.

Club career

Lima's first years as a senior were spent with FC Andorra, playing one season each in the Spanish third and fourth divisions. Subsequently, he played in both levels with RCD Espanyol B and UE Sant Andreu, splitting the following campaign abroad between Ionikos F.C. of Greece and C.F. Pachuca in Mexico.
In the summer of 2002, Lima returned to Spain, playing one and a half seasons with UD Las Palmas in the second tier, moving in January 2004 to another club in that tier, Polideportivo Ejido, and spending the following campaign with Rayo Vallecano in the third level.
Lima then played four years with U.S. Triestina Calcio in Italy. With the Trieste side, he was occasionally used as a forward at the request of elusive chairman Flaviano Tonellotto. In 2009, aged nearly 30, he switched countries again, signing for AC Bellinzona in the Swiss Super League.
After two seasons in Switzerland and one back at Triestina, Lima signed again for FC Andorra, now of the Primera Catalana, instead of several offers to play in the principality's Primera Divisió. On 12 June 2014, he joined the latter league's champion FC Santa Coloma; he scored for them on 8 July in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League away to FC Banants, as they advanced on away goals.

International career

Lima made his debut for Andorra aged 17, in the country's second ever game on 22 June 1997, scoring in a 1–4 friendly defeat in Estonia. He went on to lead the national team's scoring charts, and also amassed more than 100 caps.
In June 2009, near the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup 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. On 9 September 2014, in Andorra's first match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualification phase, he netted a sixth-minute penalty to give the side a 1–0 lead over Wales, but in an eventual 1–2 home loss.
After Óscar Sonejee, Lima was the second Andorran to reach a century of caps, playing his 100th game on 1 June 2016, a 0–2 friendly loss to Estonia in Tallinn. On 22 February 2017 he opened a 2–0 away win over San Marino in another exhibition game, ending a run of 86 defeats.
Lima surpassed Sonejee's national record of 106 internationals on 16 August 2017, when he played a friendly against Qatar in Burton-on-Trent.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.22 June 1997Linnastaadion, Kuressaare, Estonia1–31–4Friendly
2.2 September 2000Communal d'Aixovall, Andorra La Vella, Andorra2–12–32002 World Cup qualification
325 April 2001Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–01–32002 World Cup qualification
4.27 March 2002Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta1–01–1Friendly
5.4 June 2008Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella, Andorra1–11–2Friendly
6.11 February 2009S. Darius and S. Girėnas, Kaunas, Lithuania1–21–3Friendly
7.6 June 2009Neman Stadium, Grodno, Belarus1–51–52010 World Cup qualification
8.9 September 2014Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra1–01–2Euro 2016 qualifying
9.13 October 2014Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra1–11–4Euro 2016 qualifying
10.11 October 2015Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra1–21–4Euro 2016 qualifying
11.22 February 2017Olimpico di Serravalle, Serravalle, San Marino1–02–0Friendly

Personal life

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