Francisco Manuel "Paco" Soler Atencia (born 5 March 1970) is a Spanish retired football central midfielder and manager.

Paco Soler
Personal information
Full name Francisco Manuel Soler Atencia
Date of birth (1970-03-05) 5 March 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth Palma, Spain
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6+12 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)
International career
1991–1992 Spain U23 11 (1)
Managerial career
2007 Beira-Mar
2009–2010 Atlético Baleares
2013 Atlético Baleares
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Olympic medal record
Representing  Spain
Men's Football
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona Team 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. He subsequently became a coach.

Club career

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A hard-nosed player, Soler was born in Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, and spent his entire career with local club RCD Mallorca. He made his first-team debut in the 1990–91 season, and went on to make 419 competitive appearances for them.[1]

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] Four years later, he left his post as director of football and again became their manager.[5]

International career

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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.[6]

Honours

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Mallorca

Spain U23

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Maura, Tomeu (21 February 2024). "Raíllo entra en la historia del Mallorca por lo bueno… y por lo malo" [Raíllo makes Mallorca history books for good reasons… and bad ones]. Okdiario (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b Segurola, Santiago (20 May 1999). "El Mallorca pierde con orgullo" [Mallorca lose proudly]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  3. ^ Cunha, Rui (9 January 2007). "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. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  4. ^ "El Baleares firma su descenso" [Baleares sign their relegation]. Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 27 April 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ Miguelez, José (29 June 2003). "Eto'o pone Mallorca a brindar" [Eto'o has Mallorca toasting]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  8. ^ Forteza, Gabriel (22 August 2023). "Se cumplen 25 años del primer título en la historia del RCD mallorca [sic]" [25th anniversary of the first title in RCD Mallorca's history]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  9. ^ Morenilla, Juan (25 February 2007). "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
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