Alberto Molina

Francisco Alberto Molina Navarro was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 7 April 1943. He began playing with the La Luz youth team in the city and then came through the youth teams and reserve side of UD Las Palmas between 1961 and 1963. He later recalled that Tonono, born the same year, was already at Las Palmas and was clearly an exceptional player, so a first team place there would be hard to win. The arrival of Paco Campos, a fellow Gran Canarian, as CD Tenerife coach for 1963-64 opened the way for his transfer to Tenerife in August 1963, when he was 20.

Molina made his official debut for CD Tenerife on 15 September 1963 against Granada at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López, in the opening round of the 1963-64 Segunda División season. A strong central defender who was good on the ball, he soon became a regular. In the 1964 Copa del Generalísimo, Tenerife lost 7-0 to FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou and then beat them 2-1 in the return match in Santa Cruz.

In January 1967 he suffered a knee injury, a torn meniscus with damage to the cruciate and lateral ligaments, that kept him out for a year and a half. Encouraged by his teammate Juan Padrón, he had a second operation in Barcelona and returned to the side in 1968. The injury ended a possible move to Atlético Madrid and he played in pain for the rest of his career; in his final season fluid was drained from his knee before and after matches.

He captained Tenerife for eight seasons and led the team that won promotion back to the Segunda División in 1970-71 under García Verdugo, after the club had been relegated in a reorganisation of the divisions. The 1973-74 side under Dagoberto Moll came close to promotion to the Primera División. On 9 March 1976 he played in the 2-0 cup win over Real Madrid at the Heliodoro, which took Tenerife through despite a 1-0 defeat in Madrid. He retired at the end of the 1975-76 season, aged 33, with 413 official appearances, 371 of them in the league. He was never sent off.

Molina was a native of Gran Canaria who made his life in Tenerife, an unusual path at a time of strong rivalry between the two islands' clubs. Teammates and the club remembered him as a loyal companion and a sporting father figure to several generations of Tenerife players. Few other details of his private life have been made public; CD Tenerife sent its condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Alberto Molina died in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Monday 26 October 2026, aged 83. CD Tenerife announced the news that evening, describing it as a very sad day of mourning and pain for all its supporters. The cause of death was not made public. The club declared three days of official mourning and postponed its institutional events, its players wore black armbands in the Copa del Rey match against CD Badajoz, and a minute of silence was announced before the home league match against FC Andorra.

Molina remains the player with the most official appearances in the history of CD Tenerife, ahead of Aitor Sanz (405) and Toño Hernández (387). The club gave him its Gold and Diamonds Badge on his retirement in 1976, along with a tribute match against UD Las Palmas, and the Tenerife Football Federation awarded him its Gold Medal for Sporting Merit. In 2021 he was named a Leyenda Blanquiazul, and since April 2026 gate 5 of the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium has carried his name, a reference to the shirt number he wore throughout his career.