Martina Marie Franko (; born January 13, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

defender who played for

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

Career

Franko performs a versatile role, and can play as either a midfielder or forward. She has been a regular on

Surrey United Surrey United may refer to: *Surrey United (basketball) The Surrey Scorchers are an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that compete in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guil ...

women's premier division team playing in the British Columbia-based Metro Women's Soccer League for the past two years. The MWSL plays in the winter so no major conflict with summer leagues such as W-League. In her club career, Franko has won two W-League titles with the

, in 2004 and 2006. After one year for

Los Angeles Sol The Los Angeles Sol was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The team was co-owned and operated by Blue Star, LLC and AEG, a subsidia ...

in the

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

League turned on April 1, 2010 back to her former club

International career

Franko won her first cap for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 2005, aged 29. She scored her first goal on her second cap, against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in a 4–3 loss. At the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

, she helped the team achieve a bronze medal in the soccer competition; later that year, she played in her first major, FIFA affiliated tournament with the Canada team, the 2007 World Cup, where she played all three group stage matches, scoring one goal, before the team was knocked out. She also competed for the team at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Personal life

She moved to

Squamish, British Columbia Squamish (; Squamish language, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, ; 2016 census population 19,512) is a community and a district municipality in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, located at th ...

, home of her husband John, in 2003. Her parents, Dana Holanová and

Jaromír Holan Jaromír Holan (born 14 May 1941 in Prague) is a Czech former ice dancer who represented Czechoslovakia. Competing in partnership with Jitka Babická, he won bronze at the 1966 European Championships in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. By 1968, Hol ...

, were the Czechoslovak national champions in

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

in the 1960s.

Coaching career

In January 2008, Franko joined Quest University Canada as head coach of the varsity women's soccer team. Franko, also a Canadian National B licensed coach, served as an assistant coach for the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

during the 1998 season after receiving her bachelor's degree in psychology.

Honours

* 2022:

Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Hal ...

References

External links

Official site
* * /

* * * * 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Cincinnati Soccer players from Ohio Colorado College Tigers women's soccer players Naturalized citizens of Canada Canadian people of Czech descent Canadian women's soccer players Canada women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of Canada Los Angeles Sol players Pan American Games competitors for Canada USL W-League (1995–2015) players California Storm players Women's Premier Soccer League players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games College women's soccer coaches in the United States Women's Professional Soccer players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football {{Canada-women-footy-bio-stub