Enrique 'Quique' Martín Sánchez (born 29 December 1972) is a Spanish retired

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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. In a 20-year professional career he represented six teams, mainly Salamanca (three different spells). He amassed

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's ...

totals of 104 games and eight goals over the course of four seasons, with Mérida,

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

and Villarreal.

Football career

Martín was born in

Avilés Avilés (; ) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged to the sea, ...

, Asturias. An unsuccessful youth graduate at

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. Founded ...

– only appeared for the reserve squad – he went on to represent five clubs in his extensive professional career (

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a Spanish football team based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga ( 1995–96 and 1997–98), the club was dissolved in 2000, due to serious economic debts. Its ...

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

and Terrassa FC), in both

and the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. His debut in the Spanish top flight arrived in the 1995–96 season with Mérida, appearing in 37 games in an eventual relegation; he contributed with a career-best 15 goals in the following campaign, as the team returned to where they had come from. With

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

's Salamanca, Martín was instrumental in the 2006 promotion from the third level. In 2007–08 he finished as the player with most matches played in division two, 338, adding that distinction to 13 league goals – squad best, joint-tenth in the competition – which earned him a one-year contract extension aged almost 36. In 2009–10, Martín played almost 1,000 minutes less than in the previous season and also did not manage to find the net after scoring 25 times in the last two combined. Salamanca barely avoided relegation, finishing in 16th position. In June 2011, after the side dropped down a tier, Martín retired from football at the age of 38 years and six months, having appeared in 529 games in both major levels of Spanish football combined (98 goals), 425 of those in the second division.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Quique 1972 births Living people People from Avilés Spanish footballers Footballers from Asturias Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona Atlètic players CP Mérida footballers RCD Espanyol footballers UD Salamanca players Villarreal CF players Terrassa FC footballers Spain youth international footballers