Ildefonso Lima, the Andorra-Las Palmas connection
Ildefonso Lima, the Andorra-Las Palmas connection
“UD has always opted for footballers from its home and spectacular players like Viera or Moleiro come out”
- BEHIND THE SCENES
- 08/26/2022 – 10:07
Lima, receiving Tonono and Valerón a few years ago, at the time that he went through a hundred international matches (UDLP.es)
B. Perez
Ildefonso Lima, central defender who worked at UD Las Palmas starting in 2022, is still active with a long professional career. He is he record man as an absolute international at the world level with the Andorran national team. He has 134 appearances in 24 years, as the Guinness player with the longest career in a national team.
FC Andorra was the team of his debut in 1997 and in which he played until 2014 after his long sporting career. He now acts on his way to 43 years at Inter de Escaldes. “I’m still active. Andorra allows you to race more than necessary, as is my case. I am very comfortable and at home. I will continue until my body holds out,” she told Canarias Radio.
“For me it is a pride that Andorra is in the Second Division. I grew up in Andorra and made my debut in Segunda B with this club (…) The arrival to professional soccer allows us to enjoy it in the country, that does not have much football tradition. It has almost eighty years of history and is finally in the Professional League”, he added.
The central defense recalled that “Andorra, since the arrival of the (business) group where Gerard Piqué is, has been rising every year, once by office and once on a football pitch, which was the most difficult last season. He has a lot of merit and has made a change. It is a team that competes every week and you can see real football at home. The investment they have made changes the conditions of football in the country”.
“It is curious: In the field where it has not been possible to play until now in Second Division has played the world champion. It must be adapted to put natural grass and condition it for the category. It is very far from the Gran Canaria Stadium. But a very good job is being done with the Cosmos Group”, he pointed out after assessing the changes that the National Stadium of Andorra is undergoing to be accepted as the venue for the Professional League.
Lima acknowledged that “this season he has not seen anything from Las Palmas. I follow him from a distance. I keep a lot of love, in a very Canarian team, I was super comfortable. In the second year of Las Palmas I left in December because at an institutional level the club was a disaster (…) Las Palmas has to aspire to promotion (to First Division) in Professional Football”.
“Football is lived differently on the islands. Las Palmas deserve to be in the Spanish First Division, without a doubt. Because it is a club that bets on the people of the house and spectacular players come out, from the captain (Viera) to Moleiro now. They are players that one has marked history and the other, shortly, will do so as well. That says a lot about Las Palmas”, he concluded.