Alejandro "Álex" Martínez Sánchez (born 12 August 1990) is a Spanish professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Atlético Sanluqueño.

Club career

Betis

Born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, Martínez graduated from

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

' academy, and made his debut as a senior with the C team in 2010. After appearing regularly for the reserves in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, he made his first-team debut on 11 May 2011, starting in a 3–1 home win against

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. On 27 August 2011, while still registered with the B side, Martínez made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut, coming on as a late substitute for

Jefferson Montero Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite (; born 1 September 1989) is an Ecuadorian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for club F.C. St Helens, FC St Helens. He has represented the Ecuador national fo ...

in a 1–0 away victory over

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

. After appearing rarely during the campaign (three appearances, 117 minutes of action), he was definitely promoted to the main squad in the summer of 2012. On 16 August 2013, Martínez renewed his contract with the ''Verdiblancos'' until 2017, and was immediately loaned to second-tier club

Real Murcia CF Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

. He scored his first professional goal on 12 October, the game's only in a home defeat of

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

. Martínez suffered a severe knee injury on 10 November 2014, which kept him sidelined for seven months. He only returned to the fields on 7 June of the following year, replacing Francisco Portillo in a 0–3 home loss to

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

. On 18 August 2015, Martínez was loaned to

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long deal. Upon returning to the

Estadio Benito Villamarín es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

, he acted mainly as a backup to new signing Riza Durmisi.

Granada

On 26 June 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Martínez signed a two-year contract with

, recently relegated from the top flight. A starter in his first season, he dealt with several injury problems and eventually lost his starting spot to

Quini Enrique Castro González (; 23 September 1949 – 27 February 2018), known as Quini , was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a striker. In a career totally connected with Sporting de Gijón and FC Barcelona, he was widely regard ...

in his second, which ended in promotion.Los héroes de una temporada histórica: Álex Martínez (Heroes of an historic season: Álex Martínez)
Granada en Juego, 1 August 2020 (in Spanish) Martínez was further down the pecking order in 2019–20, after Carlos Neva was promoted to the first team. On 29 September 2020, after just one appearance during the whole campaign, he terminated his contract.

Later career

On 2 February 2021, Martínez joined

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

of the third tier.Álex Martínez, la zurda del Este, está de vuelta (Álex Martínez, the left from the East, is back)
Diario AS, 2 February 2021 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Alex 1990 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Seville Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Primera Federación players Segunda Federación players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Real Murcia CF players Elche CF players Granada CF footballers Hércules CF players CD Eldense footballers Atlético Sanluqueño CF players