Bruno Ludovic Jean Roger Martini (25 January 1962 – 20 October 2020) was a French 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. His professional career was closely associated with

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

, for which he played 13 years. Having won more than 30

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during nine years, Martini represented the nation in two

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

Club career

Born in

Challuy Challuy () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americ ...

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...

, Martini started playing professionally for

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

. After a loan stint with

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

he took the place of

Paris Saint-Germain FC Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

-bound

Joël Bats Joël Bats (born 4 January 1957) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent his entire senior club career in his native France, appearing in a total of 553 competitive club matches and 504 Division 1 matche ...

, going on to appear in 322

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

matches while also helping his team to a 1992–93 semi-final run in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. Martini left the club in the season prior to the 1995–96 conquest of the double, pushed to the sidelines by

Lionel Charbonnier Lionel André Michel Charbonnier (born 25 October 1966) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. After retiring, he became a football manager and managed Aceh United of the Liga Primer Indonesia in ...

. He finished his career in 1999 at 37 after four seasons with

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current i ...

, and returned to the latter side in 2015 as a goalkeeper coach.

International career

Martini played 31 times for

and played at

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

(as a starter) and

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. Immediately after his retirement, he started serving as goalkeeping coach for ''Les Bleus''.

Death

Martini died on 20 October 2020 of heart failure in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, aged 58.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martini, Bruno 1962 births 2020 deaths Sportspeople from Nièvre French footballers France men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers AJ Auxerre players AS Nancy Lorraine players Montpellier HSC players Ligue 1 players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players Association football goalkeeping coaches Footballers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté