José Mari Martínez was a Filipino sports executive who served as President of the

Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...

and a Philippine international footballer.

Football career

Martinez was a player for the Philippine national team. He was one of the three goalscorers in the Philippines' first official FIFA win, a 3–0 win over

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(now playing as Chinese Taipei) in the Asian qualifiers for the 1972 Summer Olympics At the youth level, Martinez, also played for the

San Beda College es, Universidad de San Beda , image = San Beda University seal.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = University Seal , latin_name = Universitas Sancti Bedæ , former_names ...

in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. In 2004, he was given an outstanding player award along with

Miguel Crame Miguel Crame is a retired footballer who played for the Philippine national football team. Club career Miguel Crame is a center forward and winger, most known for his stint with Meralco. He helped the club win the Lobregat Cup for three consecuti ...

by the

, with the two being prominent footballers of the 1970s. :''Scores and results list the Philippines' goal tally first.''

President of the Philippine Football Federation

2007 leadership dispute

In 2007, Martinez's first year as President of the

, there was an attempt to remove Martinez from office. However this move was halted when several members of the opposition decided against pursuing for Martinez's ouster, following a guest appearance by then Asian Football Confederation President Mohammed bin Hammam who announced a gift donation to the PFF amounting to . This move was viewed as a bribe by critics of Martinez.

PFF House of Football in Pasig

On August 2, 2008, the PFF's new headquarters, the PFF House of Football, was inaugurated by then FIFA President

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...

and AFC President bin Hammam in Barangay Oranbo,

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

. The PFF moved to the building after occupying the

PhilSports Complex The Philippine Institute of Sports Complex (also known as the PhilSports Complex) is a national sports complex of the Philippines. It is located in Meralco Avenue in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is where the offices of the Philippine Sp ...

as its headquarters for decades.

2009 national teams crisis

In 2009, a crisis affected the Philippine women's national futsal and men's senior teams which saw the ouster of women's futsal coach Emmanuel Batungbacal and long-time men's national football coach

Juan Cutillas Juan Cutillas España is a retired Spanish professional footballer and manager. He is a former manager of the Philippines national football team. Education Cutillas studied medicine against the wishes of his father who had wanted him to enter law ...

. Batungbacal was sacked by the PFF under recommendation from PFF Futsal Committee chairman

Esmaeil Sedigh Esmaeil Sedigh is an Iranian futsal coach and instructor based in the Philippines. He was a former football player in U21 1st division in Iran. He has held the position of futsal department director under the Philippine Football Federation. Sedigh ...

, from his position for sending an unsanctioned squad to futsal competition in New Zealand. Batungbacal described the move as "ironic" and showed documents to the media showing that the PFF indeed sanctioned his squad. He also accused Martinez of ignoring his pleas to express his concerns regarding the matter. The players who played under Batungbacal resigned from international duty as protests. Martinez said that Batungbacal was sacked due to lack of a coaching license and denied accusations that he ignored Batungbacal saying a dialogue between them already took place.

Ouster in 2010

Martinez was accused and charged in court for falsifying public documents particularly when he notarized a Secretary's Certification with an individual by the name of Henry Tsai included as one of the signatories to the account of the federation in Banco de Oro and

Bank of the Philippine Islands Bank of the Philippine Islands ( fil, Bangko ng Kapuluang Pilipinas, es, Banco de las Islas Filipinas, commonly known as BPI; ) is a universal bank in the Philippines. It is the first bank in both the Philippines and Southeast Asia. It is t ...

even if there was no motion to include Tsai as a signatory. Tsai was a former co-worker of Martinez at Soriamont Steamship Agencies, who was also named Managing Consultant of the PFF and later Executive Vice President. Martinez is accused of misusing funds of the federation amounting to , of which is unliquidated, which was designated to Tsai, for his own personal use and buying shares at the Valle Verde Country Club. Martinez said that he made a mistake of making Tsai as Executive Vice President of the PFF and entrusting the latter of funds of the federation. He accused the Tsai who went into hiding of taking away funds after hiring auditing firms to look on the PFF's books of accounts. He maintained to critics within the federation that he did not misuse any funds and will not resign from his post. On November 27, 2010, at the PFF 7th Ordinary Congress at the

, Martinez was ousted by 25 Presidents out of the 29 present member associations to approve a resolution made by 8 members of the Board of Governors calling for the ousting and replacement of Martinez as PFF president. Mariano Araneta was named Interim President.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Jose Mari Filipino footballers Philippines international footballers Presidents of the Philippine Football Federation Association footballers not categorized by position Year of birth missing