Mario Martínez Rubio (born 25 March 1985 in

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

) is a Spanish 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 ...

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 ...

Football career

A product of hometown club

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

's youth system, Mario first appeared with their first team during 2002–03's

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

– two games – then played 34 times scoring three goals in the 2007–08 season as the

side returned to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

after a three-year absence. On 31 August 2008, four years after making his top-flight debut, Mario netted the only goal as Numancia surprisingly defeated

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

at home in what was Pep Guardiola's first league game as a manager. It would be his only in the campaign, as the team were immediately relegated. After only 13 league matches out of 42 in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

(one complete), the 26-year-old Mario was released by Numancia, signing with

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

of the

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

. He did not settle with any club or in any country in the following years, representing

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the C ...

FC Baku FC Baku ( az, "Bakı" Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that has been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and earning the Na ...

SD Tarazona Sociedad Deportiva Tarazona is a Spanish football team based in Tarazona, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1969, it plays in , holding home games at ''Municipal'', with a 1,500-seat capacity. History The club was founded in ...

and

Jaguares de Córdoba Jaguares de Córdoba is a professional Colombian football team based in Montería, that plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Jaraguay stadium. History The team was created on December 5, 2012 at a meeting he ...

. On 3 July 2015, Mario joined

Club Blooming Club Social, Cultural y Deportivo de Blooming, commonly known as Blooming, is a Bolivian professional football club from Santa Cruz de la Sierra that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1946, its home colours are sky bl ...

in the

Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

. On 12 August, the team won their first Copa Cine Center after defeating Club Jorge Wilstermann 4–0 in the final, and he scored the opening goal. Mario continuously switched clubs and countries in the following years, representing Boavista FC,

PGS Kissamikos PGS Kissamikos F.C. is a Greek football club, based in Kissamos, Chania. The club colors are blue and white, while its crest featured a dolphin. History Kissamikos was founded in 1926, representing the town and municipality of Kissamos, Chania. ...

Puerto Rico FC Puerto Rico FC was a professional football club based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2015, the team played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team debuted in the 2016 fall ...

and

Olimpia Grudziądz Olimpia Grudziądz is a Polish football club from Grudziądz. The club was formed on 30 June 1923. Currently, Olimpia plays in the III liga, following their relegation from the II liga in the 2020–21 season. On 1 March 2022, thanks to defe ...

.Mario Martínez w Olimpii Grudziądz! (Mario Martínez to Olimpia Grudziądz!)
Olimpia Grudziądz, 15 March 2018 (in Polish)

References

External links