#19
DOB: 9/29/1990
HEIGHT: 5’7
WEIGHT: 156
YEARS PRO: 13
HOMETOWN: Montevideo, Uruguay
NATIONALITY: Uruguay
CONTRACT: Signed
Player Bio
2024: Led Birmingham with 3,219 minutes played across 36 matches. Created 41 chances and registered six goals and six assists. Was first on the club in tackles won (53) and duels won (159).
2023: Martinez was an offensive force for a second straight season with the club with 11 goals and a club-best nine assists in 38 appearances – the most matches he has ever played in a season.
2022: Signing on January 7, Martinez became the undisputed team-MVP in his first season with Birmingham, leading the club with 15 goals, eight assists, 40 tackles won and 70 chances created.
PRIOR TO LEGION FC: A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Martinez eventually made his way to America as a youth and, at Northwestern High School, was named South Carolina Player of the Year four years in a row, won three state championships and a national title while scoring 182 goals. He played collegiately at the University of North Carolina where he led the Tar Heels to the 2011 National Championship. He was drafted 17th overall in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake, but only made eight appearances for the reserve side before spending 2013 and 2014 in the NASL with the Carolina RailHawks. He then made the jump to USL with the Charlotte Independence where he scored 29 goals over 79 appearances and earned All-League honors in 2017. That was good enough to garner another shot in MLS with the Colorado Rapids in 2018. After one season there, he returned to Charlotte where he would register 16 goals over 70 appearances.
