Rhu-endly Aurelio Jean-Carlo Martina (born 25 September 1989), known as Cuco Martina, is a 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 for the Curaçao national team. He plays primarily as a

right-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 ...

, but can also play as a

centre-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 ...

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

. A youth player at

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

, Martina began his senior career with

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde K ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, followed by two seasons each at

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

clubs

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' (' Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merge ...

and

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

. In 2015, he joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and two years later Everton. Born and raised in the Netherlands, he represents Curaçao at international level, for whom he is captain. First capped in 2011, he has won the 2017 Caribbean Cup, and he represented the team at the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ame ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a se ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Early and personal life

Martina was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

. He grew up in the south of the city with his mother, brothers and sister. Martina did not know his father, and states his elder brother was instead like a father to him. His brother

Javier Javier may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Javier, in video game '' Advance Wars: Dual Strike'' * Javier Rios, a character in the Monsters, Inc. franchise. * ''Javier'' (album), a 2003 album by the American singer Javier Colon, known a ...

is also a footballer. Derwin Martina is not related to him, despite media reports to the contrary.

Club career

Netherlands

Martina played youth football with

. He spent his early senior career with

in the

. In 2011, he joined

of the

. He played 59 official matches in two seasons in

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the ...

, scoring to open a 2–0 home win over N.E.C. on 8 December 2012. On 30 July 2013, he joined

on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Martina played 59 games across all competitions for the Enschede club, scoring once: an added-time equaliser in a 2–2 home draw with Feyenoord on 23 February 2014.

Southampton

He signed a two-year contract with English club

on 7 July 2015. An unused substitute in the first leg, Martina made his Southampton debut in their

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. I ...

third qualifying round second leg away to

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vit ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 win on 6 August. Three days later, he made his league debut as a half-time substitute for fellow new signing

Cédric Soares Cédric Ricardo Alves Soares (born 31 August 1991), known simply as Cédric (), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right back for club Fulham, on loan from Arsenal, and the Portugal national team. Cédric's career started ...

in a 2–2 draw against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. Martina became the first-ever Curaçao international to play for

and the second to play in the

after

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has p ...

's Shelton Martis in 2009. On 26 December 2015, on his first start, Martina scored his only goal for the Saints, a long-range strike to open a 4–0 win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

. He became the first Curaçaoan to score in the Premier League. He was released by Southampton at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Everton

On 17 July 2017, following his release from Southampton, Martina joined fellow

side Everton on a three-year deal, reuniting with his former Saints manager

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

. Martina made his league debut for Everton on 12 August, when his club beat

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

1–0 at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

. Martina joined Stoke, newly relegated to the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

, on a loan for the 2018–19 season. He made his debut on 25 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win over

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. Martina's loan with Stoke was cancelled on 31 January 2019, and he joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. On 25 June 2020 it was announced that Martina would leave the club when his contract expired on 30 June 2020.

Go Ahead Eagles

He signed for

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's ho ...

in November 2021.

International career

Martina made his international debut for Curaçao on 9 August 2011, in their first match since the dissolution of the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

. He played the first half of the 1–0 friendly loss to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

at the Estadio Panamericano in San Cristóbal, before being substituted for Kenny Kunst. He has played in qualifying matches for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. He served as national team captain. Martina was part of the Curaçao squad that won the

2017 Caribbean Cup The 2017 Caribbean Cup was the 19th and final edition of the Caribbean Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of the Caribbean region organized by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The top four teams qualified for the 2017 ...

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

, defeating

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispanio ...

2–1 in the final. He captained the team at the

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ov ...

. On 10 September 2018 he scored his first international goal in a 10–0 home win over

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and ...

in the CONCACAF Nations League qualifying. At the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in the ...

, Martina was again captain and played every game up to a 1–0 loss to hosts the United States in the quarter-finals in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Curaçao's goal tally first.''

Honours

Curaçao *

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

* King's Cup:

Individual * CONCACAF Best XI:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

References

External links

Profile
at evertonfc.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martina, Cuco 1989 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Dutch footballers Curaçao footballers Association football defenders Feyenoord players RBC Roosendaal players RKC Waalwijk players FC Twente players Southampton F.C. players Everton F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Go Ahead Eagles players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Premier League players English Football League players Curaçao international footballers 2014 Caribbean Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch people of Curaçao descent Jong FC Twente players