Place of birth Palma, Spain Name Francisco Atencia Years Team Role Footballer | 1988–1991 Mallorca B Height 1.69 m 1991–2004 Mallorca | |
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Full name Francisco Manuel Soler Atencia Date of birth (1970-03-05) 5 March 1970 (age 45) | ||
Francisco Manuel 'Paco' Soler Atencia (born 5 March 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central midfielder, and a current coach.
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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.
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.
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.