Sandy Martens (born 23 December 1972 in Opbrakel,

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

) is a retired Belgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He is a former

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

international, with a record of 3 goals in 11 games. He was a successful player for FC Bruges between 1998 and 2003 but suffered from various injuries later in his career. Originally a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, he later played as a right back.

Career

Martens started off his career with Olsa Brakel, a club in Belgium's fourth division. In 1993, he moved to AA Gent (First Division, Jupiler League). In his first match, at home against SK Beveren, he scored immediately, making him a crowd's favourite. He remained one of the leading players in Gent until 1999. In 1999 Martens moved to Club Brugge. It was also the period in which he turned Belgian international. He debuted for the Belgium national team on 27 March 1999 against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. His last international appearance was against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in August 2003. Before 2012, Martens had the unique identification number of 0 in

Sports Interactive Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the ''Football Manager'' series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired by Japanese video game publisher Sega ...

's Football Manager series. For FM 2012, he was moved to id number 1.

Career statistics

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 2002–03 * Belgian Cup: 2001–02 * Belgian Super Cup:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martens, Sandy 1972 births Living people Belgian footballers Club Brugge KV players Association football central defenders K.A.A. Gent players Belgium international footballers K.S.K. Beveren players Belgian First Division B players Belgian Pro League players Footballers from East Flanders