Andorra’s defender, Ildefons Lima (43), is the world record holder for years in selection. photo: instagram
National
On Friday (8:45 p.m.) Mourad Yakin’s men will face Andorra in the qualifiers for Euro 2024. In front of them: Ildefons Lima, 43, world record holder in selection longevity. The famous defender knows our country well, having played there for two years.
06/15/2023, 16:4815.06.2023, 17:48
To have the honor of a feature-length picture on the BBC, the famous and well-known British media, you must necessarily have something special. Such is the case of Ildefons Lima. Andorra’s central defender owes his notoriety to his longevity, seldom his first name and his skull hair. He just carries World record for years check:26!
Born on December 10, 1979 in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bthe Andorran “grandfather” celebrated his first title in 1997, at the age of just 17, during a defeat in a friendly match against Estonia. Netty goalkeeper Gregor Coppel had not yet been born that day, and five-year-old Xherdan Shaqiri had barely left his bottle. Just to Make You Look Old Again: The Movie Titanic It was a hit and we couldn’t drive an hour without hearing the tube on the radio Barbie bride Aqua.
Mozart Ronaldo And a bad memory of Geneva
Suffice it to say that since then, the water has sunk (unfortunately, a few other boats have sunk). Ildefons Lima, he’s been rolling his bumps around the world at the same time he’s surveying selections with Andorra. Today, he stands at 134 goals from eleven. Again, this is a record, and the most remarkable thing is that the veteran is developing in the center of defense and that he does not shine thanks to his technical qualities. Yes, Lima is the rough, even obnoxious kind. Nirvana is more than Mozart.
Admir Mehmedi got a taste of Ildefons Lima in 2017, during the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Photo: Cornerstone
They’re of course not as well-known in Switzerland as the late Kurt Cobain’s legendary grunge group, but they’re not necessarily entirely exotic there, since they laid their bags (and some slippers) near Bellinzona between 2009 and 2011, when the Ticino club played in the top flight. Solid Andorra (192 cm) could not prevent subsidence Granata In the Challenge League, which Servette lost in the play-off at the end of the 2010/2011 financial year.
After this failure, he returned to Trieste, in the Italian third division. During his very long career, the former Bellinzoni players also played in Spain, Greece and Mexico. He returned to Andorra in 2012, where he currently plays for the second garrison club FC Andorra (the sponsor team is based in the Spanish second division).
Ildefons Lima (left) in a duel with Zamaxian Jeffrey Trend, in May 2011. Photo: Cornerstone
Inevitably, in 134 matches with his national team, Ildefons Lima has faced as many football legends as his series of defeats, sometimes very dry. Ordinary: Andorra is only 153rd in the FIFA rankings, behind Botswana and ahead of the Maldives and Afghanistan. A place that makes sense when you know that this tiny country in the middle of the Pyrenees has a population of just 80,000.
But that didn’t stop the most famous footballers from having the privilege (but perhaps also a bit of a struggle at the time) of starring as the likes of Brazil’s Ronaldo, Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko or Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
museum and lifestyle
Many of the players whose shirts Lima acquired have traded them. Today, he treasures an astonishing collection of over 900 copies. “It’s unbelievable because I have the whole history of our national team,” gleefully told the BBC in 2020, the one who made his debut just a year after the Andorra national team was created in 1996.
“If you take a shirt from 24 years ago, when the national team started, and compare it to a shirt now, you can see the difference in football. How football has evolved. I love it because it’s a way to travel through football history.”
Ildefons Lima
When asked who is the strongest striker he has faced in his career, The famous defender answers the Brazilian “Ronaldo”. This was during a preparatory match in 1998, a week before the start of the World Cup in France. He was strong. He was fast. He had it all as a striker. You can’t stop this kind of guys. They have something special.”
Ildefons Lima tackles Brazilian legend Ronaldo, in a friendly match he lost 3-0 in June 1998. photo: instagram
As for his exceptional longevity, Ildefons Lima explains it as follows:
“I take care of myself. I train, sleep, and eat well. You have to do all of those things. Luckily, I don’t have any serious injuries. I think that’s a big thing that helps.”
Once he’s hung up his boots, the former Bellinzona player wants to start his coaching career. But before that, he will do everything – on the field or on the bench, as captain – to make the Swiss sweat on Friday (8:45 pm) on the artificial turf of the Estadi Nacional in Andorra la Vella. Together with his comrades, they succeeded in October 2016, when El Nate won 2-1 in the emirate in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
In 2021, Ildefons Lima came under fire while trying to catch up with the Englishman Jadon Sancho. photo: instagram
The Helvetians will try to prevent the publication of a new BBC article about Ildefons Lima: the defeat of Switzerland will surely cause a (bad) uproar all over the world …
