Martin Roberto Zúñiga Hernandez (born 6 August 1970), better known as "El Pulpo" Zúñiga (The Octopus), is a Mexican professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

game analyst, sports anchor and former

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 ...

goalkeeper. He is most recognized for his involvement in 1st division Mexican Soccer or

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

and MLS. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

with the

Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...

. Martin retired from the league in 2005 after consecutive knee injuries. He is sought after for his expert MLS analytics, currently serving as an analyst and host for

Fox Deportes Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español and stylized in all caps as FOX Deportes) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States. ...

Early life

Born to Cruz Roberto Zúñiga Castañeda, a petroleum plant operator, and Maria Reina Hernandez de Zúñiga, Martin and his family moved to

Nuevo Leon Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to: * Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California * Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin * Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico * "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...

when he was 5 years old after his father was transferred to the petroleum plant located in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

. Although Monterrey offered an assortment of youth baseball leagues, soccer became Martins main focus as he became submerged in local soccer youth leagues.

Youth Leagues

His skills and his determination, even as a child, allowed him to participate in more advanced age leagues. At the age of 7 Martin began playing for Los Toros GURN alongside children 2 years his senior. Due to the scarcity of youth soccer leagues in Monterrey, Martin would travel great distances to participate in local leagues in neighboring

Cadereyta Cadereyta may refer to: *Cadereyta de Montes, Querétaro, Mexico *Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León, Mexico *Cadereyta Jiménez massacre The Cadereyta Jiménez massacre occurred on the Mexican Federal Highway 40, Fed 40 on 12–13 May 2012. Mexica ...

. While playing for the local leagues Martin was scouted by the president of the GPA, Gerencia De Proyectos y Almacenmiento, soccer team Guillermo Caceres who became a great influence on Martin's career and life. Guillermo helped promote Martin and became a mentor for him. The GPA soccer team provided the foundation and training Zúñiga needed to excel as an effective goalkeeper. Juan Gonzalez, soccer pro, was impressed by 18 year old Martin and invited him to the basic tryouts for the prestigious Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León,

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Foun ...

. 500 teenagers tried out, among them famous players Javier Lozano Chavira(El Pastor), :es:David Oliva and Fabián Peña. Martin was one of three goalkeepers accepted into Las Reservas Profesional Tigrillos club, a third division sub team used to develop members into Club Tigres.

First Division Mexico

Martin made his debut in the 1992–93 season, on March 13, 1993, for Club Tigres UANL in a match against

Deportivo Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega ...

, in which Toluca scored no points, leading Tigres to win 2–0. In the 1995 season he was moved to the

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

where he would win the summer of '97 championship and obtain a sub-championship in the winter of '98. Being part of the national elections, Martin helped Mexico obtain 3rd place in the

1997 Copa América Bolivia hosted the Copa América for the second time in its 38th edition. It was held from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. There is no qualifying for the final tournament. All South American ...

. After his 7th season with the Chivas de Guadalajara, Martin was sold to

Celaya F.C. Club Celaya is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Celaya, Guanajuato. Celaya currently plays in the Liga de Expansión MX. Initially formed on Sunday 7 February 1954, the team was reorganized in Winter 2003 after t ...

where he would play a brief season before returning to Guadalajara to deliver a solid season with

Tecos UAG Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional Association football, football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March ...

from 2000 to 2001. By the summer of 2002, Martin was back with Las Chivas de Guadalajara. He would be released to

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

and finally requested by :es:Daniel Guzmán Castañeda to play for

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

where he would suffer his first torn ligament across his left knee.

Chivas USA & Retirement From Soccer

The Chivas USA team served as the American extension of the popular Mexican franchise Chivas de Guadalajara club. Martin was part of the first members who kicked off their inauguration season with a 2–0 loss against D.C. United on April 2, 2005. After playing 4 games with Chivas USA Martin suffered the final injury of his goalkeeping career, officially announcing his retirement on August 29, 2005. Martin was appointed Soccer Ambassador for the Chivas USA immediately after his retirement from the team. He oversaw the club's academy, scouted for youth talent and served as a spokesperson for community and sponsorship events until 2006.

Sports Analyst & Anchor

Martin began his

sports analyst A sports analyst is a person looking through technical, tactical, physiological, and psychological performance metrics /sup> working with the sports coach and sports science team to improve athlete performance. They will often use Video motion an ...

career as a commentator for the

Azteca America Azteca is the Spanish word for Aztec. In English, Azteca or Aztecas may refer to: Animals * ''Azteca'' (ant), a genus of ants * Azteca horse, a breed of horse Games * Azteca, a world in the online game of ''Wizard101'' Sport * Aztecas de la UD ...

coverage on the

2006 FIFA World Cup Final The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 9 July 2006 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, to determine the winner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The match was contested between Italy and France. Italy won the Wor ...

. Propelled by the knowledge he acquired on the field in Mexico and the United States, Martin quickly became a trusted and well-respected voice in the Sports telecast realm. In September 2010 he was asked to join

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...

as a pre and post show analyst. He conducted player interviews and recapped performances live on-air.

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

developed the first regional Spanish-language sports cable network, based out of Los Angeles, and recruited Martin as an anchor for Tu Show Deportivo and Vamos Galaxy. He was also utilized by TWC as a voice over for the twice Emmy nominated show Galaxy Confidencial.

brought Martin onto its roster in 2009 as an analyst and anchor for projects such as

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, Mexican Soccer and

Exhibition game 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 ...

rounds. He continues to work with Fox as a co-host and MLS analyst.

Developing The Youth

Martin participated as a judge and goalkeeping coach in the nationally televised Sueno MLS soccer talent show presented by

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...

. The winning child of the title El Portero Allstate became a mentee of Martin and gained admission to the soccer talent development program. Martin participated in the program from 2012 to 2015. Martin has partnered with

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divi ...

to offer youth clinics throughout the country for children ages 10–17Mario Flores
"Verizon Wireless Brings Mexican Soccer Icon Martin "El Pulpo" Zuñiga To Yakima, Washington For Youth Soccer Clinic"
Verizonwireless.com Throughout the program Martin hosted a series of 3 hour long youth soccer clinics and provided soccer related supplies for aspiring players. Martin, along with soccer superstars Claudio Suarez,

Jorge Campos Jorge Campos Navarrete (born 15 October 1966) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. A notable player of Mexico in the 1990s and early 2000s, Campos was an eccentric player, known for his constant play outside ...

and

Mariano Trujillo Edgar Mariano Trujillo Reyes (born May 19, 1977, in Mexico City) is a Mexican former professional footballer and current analyst for Fox Deportes. Career Professional Trujillo made his professional debut with UNAM Pumas on October 26, 1996, in ...

, founded the non-profit PRO ALLIANCE F

youth soccer organization that operates both recreational and competitive soccer leagues in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Pro Alliance FC was created to help community youth players develop physically, mentally and emotionally through professional guidance. Their program operates out of

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It is ...

and

Bell Gardens, California Bell Gardens is a city in the U.S. state of California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Located in Los Angeles County, the city's population was 42,072 at the 2010 census, down from 44,054 at the 2000 census. Bell Gardens is part of the G ...

with plans on future expansion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuniga, Martin 1970 births Living people Footballers from Tamaulipas Sportspeople from Tampico, Tamaulipas Mexican people of Basque descent Chivas USA players Mexico international footballers 1997 Copa América players Tigres UANL footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Club Puebla players Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players Association football goalkeepers