Jairo Manfredo Martínez Puerto (born 14 May 1978) is a Honduran former 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''el Kiki'', Martínez started his professional career at

F.C. Motagua Club de Fútbol Motagua (), formerly Club Deportivo Motagua up to 2017, is an association football club, located in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. F.C. Motagua was founded as ''Club Deportivo Motagua'' on 29 August 1928. The club competes ...

with whom he would spend the majority of his career.

Coventry City

Martínez most notably played for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

between 2000 and 2002, although he rarely appeared for the first team. He was part of the team that were relegated from the

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 ...

in 2001, although he never made an appearance that season. The manager at the time,

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

, was criticised for making poor signings and Martínez was seen as one of them by the Coventry fans, as well as his compatriot

Iván Guerrero Mario Iván Guerrero Ramírez (born 30 November 1977) is a Honduran former footballer who last played for Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the North American Soccer League. He was the club captain and also served as an assistant coach. Career Clu ...

who was brought to the club around the same time. It could be argued that Strachan had nothing to do with either of these signings – the squad at that time was arguably too large, and many players brought by consortia more concerned with making a profit on future sales. However, Martinez scored 3 league goals in just 5 starts, with all goals coming away from home against Barnsley, Gillingham and Millwall. He returned to Honduras and Motagua, then had a short stint in the Mexican second division and a season at Olimpia, before again turning out for Motagua. A knee injury eventually cut short his career and he retired in 2008, aged 30. He scored 50 goals in total for Motagua, making him the 5th most prolific scorer in the club's history.

International career

Martínez made his debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in a November 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and has earned a total of 38 caps, scoring 13 goals. He has represented his country in 4

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. He also played at the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and 2007 UNCAF Nations Cups as well as at the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

s and

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from ...

.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2007 - Full Details
- RSSSF His final international was a February 2008 friendly match against

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

International goals

Honours and awards

Club

F.C. Motagua *

Copa Interclubes UNCAF The UNCAF Club Tournament was an annual international football competition held in the UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each national league qualified automa ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Jairo 1978 births Living people Footballers from La Ceiba Men's association football forwards Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Honduras Footballers at the 1999 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Honduras 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players F.C. Motagua players Coventry City F.C. players C.D. Olimpia players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Honduran expatriate men's footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico English Football League players Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games