Vicente Martínez Duart (1895 - 20 September 1963) was a Spanish

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 ...

. He was one of the great forwards of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

's early history, netting 203 goals in 285 games between 1915 and 1923, although this tally includes goals scored in friendlies and unofficial games.

Club career

He began his career at the youth ranks of Madrid de Barcelona, who after merging with Provençal in 1907 created the

CE Europa Club Esportiu Europa is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Gràcia, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1907, it plays in the Segunda División RFEF, Segunda ...

. Martínez's qualities quickly stood out from the rest and soon he was promoted to the first team in 1911, at the age of only 16. One of the first matches he played was a friendly against Numancia on 23 July 1911, and some sources state that he is the youngest player in history to wear Europa's shirt, but it's not known for sure due to the lack of information. At Europa, he formed a partnership with the Pelaó brothers ( Estebán and

Bonaventura Bonaventura may refer to: * Bonaventura (given name), given name * Bonaventura (surname), surname * Bonaventura (VTA), light-rail station in San Jose, United States of America * ''Signor Bonaventura'', an Italian comic strip * Bonaventura Heinz Ho ...

) and continued to score prolifically for the club, unfortunately, and due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, we know nothing about his goalscoring records with Europe. His goalscoring records eventually drew the attention of

, who signed him in 1915 in what is considered one of the first major transfers in Europe, because at the time, club changes, especially of the main star players, were not too common. His move to Barcelona was not too well received by his Europa teammates, who considered his transfer a betrayal. At Barcelona, he did not lose his goal-scoring instinct, becoming one of the great forwards of the club by netting 203 goals in 285 games between 1915 and 1923, although this tally includes goals scored in friendlies and unofficial games. With Barcelona he won 5 Catalan championships in 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21 and in 1921-22, along with two

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

titles in

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

, with Martínez scoring the opening goal in the former final. On 13 October 1918, a tribute match was played in his honour at the

Camp de la Indústria Camp de la Indústria () or Campo de la calle Indústria was a multi-use stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It was initially used as the home venue of FC Barcelona, until the team moved to Camp de Les Corts in 1922. The capacity of the stadium was 6,000 ...

, between Barcelona and CE Europa, which ended in a 2-1 victory for Barcelona. The first player in Barcelona's history to have been granted a tribute match was

Ramón Torralba Ramon Torralba Larraz (13 August 1895 – 6 June 1986) is a famous figure in the history of FC Barcelona. He was popularly known as ''la Vella'' ('the Old One') because of his long career with Barça. Club career Despite being born in Aragon, he ...

a year earlier, on 4 February 1917, and coincidentally, both retired from football with Barcelona after a second tribute match at the

Camp de Les Corts Camp de Les Corts (), commonly referred to as Les Corts, was a sports stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the home for FC Barcelona until the club moved to the Camp Nou in 1957. It was also the home of CD Condal for the club's enti ...

, with Martínez's being the first-ever to be held there on 17 June 1923, retiring after 8 seasons at Barcelona.

International career

He was summoned by the Catalonia national team for 9 games, where he would score 4 goals, including the winner against a Paris XI on 1 November 1925, two years after he had already retired from football.

Honours

Club

;

Catalan football championship The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929. In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, o ...

: *Champions (5): 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22

: *Champions (2):

and

References

1895 births 1963 deaths Footballers from Catalonia Spanish footballers Association football forwards CE Europa footballers FC Barcelona players Catalonia international footballers {{Spain-footy-forward-stub