Alejandro "Álex" Martínez Sánchez (born 12 August 1990) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Betis

Born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, Martínez graduated from

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

' academy, and made his debut as a senior with the C team in 2010. After appearing regularly for the reserves in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, he made his first-team debut on 11 May 2011, starting in a 3–1 home win against

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. On 27 August 2011, while still registered with the B side, Martínez made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

debut, coming on as a late substitute for

Jefferson Montero Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite (; born 1 September 1989) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ecuadorian Serie A club S.D. Aucas. He has represented the Ecuador national team at senior international level. Clu ...

in a 1–0 away victory over

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

. After appearing rarely during the campaign (three appearances, 117 minutes of action), he was definitely promoted to the main squad in the summer of 2012. On 16 August 2013, Martínez renewed his contract with the ''Verdiblancos'' until 2017, and was immediately loaned to second-tier club

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

. He scored his first professional goal on 12 October, the game's only in a home defeat of

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

. Martínez suffered a severe knee injury on 10 November 2014, which kept him sidelined for seven months. He only returned to the fields on 7 June of the following year, replacing Francisco Portillo in a 0–3 home loss to

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

. On 18 August 2015, Martínez was loaned to

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long deal. Upon returning to the

Estadio Benito Villamarín Estadio Benito Villamarín is a stadium in Seville, Spain, and the home of Real Betis since its completion in 1929. It has a capacity of 60,720. History Construction As early as 1912, the Spanish architect Aníbal González Álvarez-Ossorio had ...

, he acted mainly as a backup to new signing

Riza Durmisi Riza Durmisi (, al, Riza Durmishi; born 8 January 1994) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Spanish club Tenerife, on loan from the Italian club Lazio. He has represented Denmark at several youth levels and made his ...

Granada

On 26 June 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Martínez signed a two-year contract with

, recently relegated from the top flight. A starter in his first season, he dealt with several injury problems and eventually lost his starting spot to

Quini Enrique Castro González (; 23 September 1949 – 27 February 2018), known as Quini , was a Spanish footballer who played as a striker. In a career totally connected with Sporting de Gijón and FC Barcelona, he was widely regarded as one of ...

in his second, which ended in promotion.Los héroes de una temporada histórica: Álex Martínez (Heroes of an historic season: Álex Martínez)
Granada en Juego, 1 August 2020 (in Spanish) Martínez was further down the pecking order in 2019–20, after

Carlos Neva Carlos Neva Tey (born 12 June 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Granada. Club career Neva was born in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Andalusia, and made his senior debut for Racing Club Port ...

was promoted to the first team. On 29 September 2020, after just one appearance during the whole campaign, he terminated his contract.

Later career

On 2 February 2021, Martínez joined

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

of the third tier.Álex Martínez, la zurda del Este, está de vuelta (Álex Martínez, the left from the East, is back)
As, 2 February 2021 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Alex 1990 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Seville Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Primera Federación players Segunda Federación players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Real Murcia CF players Elche CF players Granada CF footballers Hércules CF players CD Eldense footballers