Martín Horacio Herrera (born 13 September 1970) is an Argentine 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Boca Juniors

Born in

Río Cuarto, Córdoba Río Cuarto is a city in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Located in the south of the province, it has about 157,000 inhabitants () and is an important commercial and agricultural hub. Overview The Río Cuarto River flows through the provinc ...

, Herrera started his senior career with Argentine giants Boca Juniors in 1991 after signing from his local club

Estudiantes de Río Cuarto Asociación Atlética Estudiantes (usually known as Estudiantes de Río Cuarto) is a sports club located in the city of Río Cuarto, Córdoba Province (Argentina). Although many sports are practised at the club, it is mostly known for its footbal ...

. During his tenure, he played understudy to the likes of

Carlos Navarro Montoya Carlos Fernando Navarro Montoya (born 26 February 1966) is a retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Colombia, Navarro Montoya represented the Colombia national team three times, and gained Argentine citizenship later in his care ...

; on 16 May 1993, in a

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

game against Club Atlético Independiente, a clash with an opponent resulted in head trauma, a depressed cheekbone, orbital fracture and torn ligaments, which sidelined him for nine months.Se despidió Martín Herrera, una de las mayores figuras del fútbol riocuartense en su historia (Farewell to Martín Herrera, one of the greatest symbols of Río Cuarto football)
Telediario Digital, 21 April 2008

Journeyman

Subsequently, Herrera joined

Club Atlético Atlanta Club Atlético Atlanta is an Argentine sports club from the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires. Nicknamed ''Los Bohemios'' ("The Bohemians"), Atlanta is mostly known for its football team, although the institution also hosts the practise of ba ...

of the

Primera B Metropolitana Primera B Metropolitana is one of two professional leagues that form the third level of the Argentine football league system. The division is made up of 17 clubs mainly from the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, Greater Buenos Aires. ...

. He then had brief spells with Deportivo Toluca FC (Mexico) and

Ferro Carril Oeste Club Ferro Carril Oeste, known simply as Ferro Carril Oeste or familiarly, Ferro, is an Argentine sports club from the neighbourhood of Caballito, Buenos Aires. Although many activities are hosted by the club, Ferro is mostly known for its foot ...

, leaving the latter after not being paid for several months.

Alavés

On 8 July 1999, Herrera moved to the Spanish

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 signing a three-year contract with

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...

for 200 million pesetas. He was an undisputed starter in his first year, being awarded the

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ic ...

with only 37 goals conceded (all 38 matches played),Martín Herrera reivindica a los porteros secundarios (Martín Herrera stakes a claim for supporting goalkeepers)
El País, 22 May 2000 which was good enough to qualify to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

after the sixth-place finish. Herrera continued to be first choice for the Basques in the following season, but was also briefly suspended by the Royal Spanish Football Federation for allegedly holding a false

Italian passport An Italian passport is issued upon request to an Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its biometric version has been available since 2006. It is ranked as ...

. He later succeeded in proving his origins, and helped his team reach the final of the UEFA Cup on 16 May 2001, a 5–4 extra time loss against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

after an own

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

Fulham

In May 2002, Herrera agreed to a three-year deal at Fulham. A backup to

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...

and

Maik Taylor Maik Stefan Taylor (born 4 September 1971) is a former Northern Ireland international football goalkeeper and, since July 2022, goalkeeping coach at Birmingham City. At club level, Taylor played non-League football for Petersfield Town, Basingst ...

, he only made his

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 Fo ...

debut on 24 February 2003 in a 1–1 away draw to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

as a substitute, after Taylor was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. Herrera's second and final competitive appearance took place on 16 March 2003, when he started in the 2–2 draw against

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 ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

Estudiantes LP

Herrera returned to his country and its Primera División on 17 July 2003, being loaned to Estudiantes de La Plata. Initially a starter, he lost his spot to Mariano Andújar after being sent off in a 0–2 loss at Boca Juniors in September 2006, never being selected again by manager

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970, nicknamed El Cholo (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder; he has been the manager of Atlético Madrid since December 2011. In his cl ...

before terminating his contract the following month; nonetheless, he was part of the squad that won that year's Apertura championship, defeating the same opposition in the championship playoff.Argentina 2006/07
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...

Estudiantes RC

After one year out of football, the 37-year-old Herrera returned to activity with his first club Estudiantes Río Cuarto. He retired in 2009.

Honours

Toluca * Liga MX: 1998 Torneo Verano Estudiantes La Plata * Argentine Primera División: 2006 Apertura Individual *

: 1999–2000

References

External links

Argentine League statistics
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Martin 1970 births Living people Footballers from Río Cuarto, Córdoba Argentine men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Argentine Primera División players Estudiantes de Río Cuarto footballers Boca Juniors footballers Club Atlético Atlanta footballers Ferro Carril Oeste footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Liga MX players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players La Liga players Deportivo Alavés players Premier League players Fulham F.C. players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England