José Andrés Martínez Torres (born 7 August 1994) is a Venezuelan 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

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

and the Venezuela national team. Martínez has been referred to by the nickname "el Brujo" (Spanish for "the Wizard").

Club career

Zulia

After two seasons with Deportivo JBL del Zulia, Martínez signed with

Zulia FC Zulia Fútbol Club was a professional football club that last competed in the Primera División Venezolana. The club was based in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela, and it's internationally recognized for his participation in the 2019 Copa Sudame ...

ahead of the Apertura tournament in December 2017. While with Zulia, he earned the 2018 Copa Venezuela title and made a historic run in the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

; advancing through to the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Philadelphia Union

In December 2019, Martínez signed a two-year contract with

competing in

for a transfer fee reported around $325,000. Martínez made his debut start for the Union in a 3-3 draw at

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

. During the 2020 season, Martinez grew praise for his quality of play as one of the best defensive midfielders in MLS. His first season in MLS finished with 14 regular season starts, contributing two assists, and ultimately resulting in the Union's first trophy, the 2020 Supporters' Shield. In January 2021, Martinez signed a new contract with the Union through the 2022 season, with options for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

International career

Martinez received his first official call up to the Venezuela national team in October 2020. He represented the senior Venezuela national team in a 3–1

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

loss to

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

on 3 June 2021.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

Honours

Zulia FC *

Copa Venezuela The Copa Venezuela ( en, Venezuela Cup) is the national cup football competition of Venezuela. Organized by the Venezuelan Football Federation, it is contested in the second half of the season by the teams in the Venezuelan Primera División, Prim ...

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 United ...

Philadelphia Union *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

runner-up:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individaual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martínez, José Andrés 1994 births Living people Venezuelan men's footballers Venezuela men's international footballers Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Deportivo JBL del Zulia players Zulia F.C. players Philadelphia Union players Sportspeople from Maracaibo Men's association football midfielders Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players 2021 Copa América players