Léo Martins

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In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Martins and the second or paternal family name is Santos.
Léo Martins
OIH ComM
Léo Martins playing for Flamengo in 2016.
Personal information
Full name Léonardo Barral Martins Santos
Date of birth (1989-12-29) 29 December 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Forward
International career‡
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015– Portugal 171 (224)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 September 2023

Léonardo Barral Martins Santos OIH ComM (born 29 December 1989), better known simply as Léo Martins, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese beach soccer player who plays as a forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2015 and 2019).

He has an identical twin brother, Bernardo, who is also a high-profile beach soccer player.

Biography[edit]

Léo and his twin brother, Bê Martins, were born in Brazil. Léo was born two minutes after his older sibling.[1] Aged 18, they went to play association football in Spain on the promise of a contract.[2] However, when they arrived, an issue with their agent meant there was no club to sign for. The move was funded by their parents, but without an income the money soon ran out and the brothers found themselves broke and starving. Despite this, they stayed in Spain to attempt to recuperate the money for their parents.[3] Eventually, they landed a contract with CD Canillas.[4] During this time, they began the application process for Portuguese citizenship.[2] This was possible since their paternal great-grandfather was from the country. In 2009, citizenship was achieved.[5] Aged 21, in 2011, their contracts ended and their mother developed a health issue, and so they returned to Brazil. To maintain their fitness, they began training on the beach. Struggling to find a new football club, they started to pursue beach soccer instead, joining Vasco da Gama and soon after, Flamengo.[1][2] Léo's progress was slightly behind his brother's, who moved on to a Russian club before him.

After finishing as top scorer at the 2014 Euro Winners Cup, Léo, and brother Bê, received an offer to join the Portugal squad at the end of 2014 after playing for clubs in Italy.[1] Despite offers from the Brazil national team, the brothers decided they wanted to represent Portugal instead, citing their belief that there would be less chance of a "follow-up" if they were to join Brazil, their admiration for the country, and for Portuguese legends Madjer and Alan.[2] Léo debuted for Portugal on 9 July 2015 at the 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup,[6] six months after his brother. Léo scored his first goal for Portugal in his second appearance, against Senegal on 11 July.[7] Portugal won the tournament, and in response, Léo, along with the rest of the squad, were appointed as Officers of the Order of Prince Henry in December 2015.[8] That year, both brothers also joined Braga with whom they would go on to win multiple domestic and European club titles.[2]

In 2016, Léo combined with Alan to finish off a one-two move versus Greece nominated for goal of the year, but his effort was beaten by Nick Perera of the United States.[9]

In 2019, following Portugal's 2019 World Cup victory, along with the rest of the squad, Léo was made a Commander of the Order of Merit.[10] He was also named as one of the tournament's top ten best players, out of the 192 participants.[11] He ended the season as the second highest scorer in Beach Soccer Worldwide competitions with 69 goals.[12] In 2021, Léo was voted by fellow national team captains and coaches as one of the best three players in the world at the Beach Soccer Stars awards in Dubai.[13][14]

Statistics[edit]

Note: Some of the sources of these statistics may have counted an appearance when the player was actually an unused substitute.

Honours[edit]

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours that Léo has achieved:

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Bê e Léo, a historia dos gémeos campeões do mundo por Portugal (in Portuguese). TSF. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e Melhor do que um campeão, só ter outro igual (in Portuguese). MaisFutebol. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Be Martins: I wish I could split the Best Player trophy with my brother". FIFA. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  4. ^ "De passar fome a melhor do Mundo: salário de Bê Martins chegou a ser pago com carne do talho do treinador". Record (in Portuguese). 9 November 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  5. ^ São gémeos brasileiros, mas é com um título por Portugal que sonham. Diário de Notícias. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  6. ^ Leonardo Santos (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. ^ #4 - Entrevista a Léo Martins ( Fut. Praia ) (in Portuguese). MaisFutebol. March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Presidente Cavaco Silva homenageou Presidente da Federação Portuguesa de Futebol e Seleção de Futebol de Praia". Official Information Site of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic (in Portuguese). 15 December 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Madjer reeleito melhor jogador do mundo em futebol de praia em 2016". Observador (in Portuguese). 5 November 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Campeões do Mundo condecorados: "Bom exemplo para todos os portugueses"" (in Portuguese). ZeroZero.pt. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Golden Ball shortlist and digital success highlighted at closing press conference". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  12. ^ The 2019 in figures. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Léo Martins no trio candidato a melhor futebolista de praia do Mundo". Record (in Portuguese). 22 October 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Léo Martins no trio candidato a melhor futebolista de praia do Mundo". Observador (in Portuguese). 22 October 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2024.

External links[edit]

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