Jairo Manfredo Martínez Puerto (born 14 May 1978) is a Honduran former 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 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) ** Smal ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''el Kiki'', Martínez started his professional career at F.C. Motagua with whom he would spend the majority of his career.

Coventry City

Martínez most notably played for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

between 2000 and 2002, although he rarely appeared for the first team. He was part of the team that were relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

in 2001, although he never made an appearance that season. The manager at the time,

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

, was criticised for making poor signings and Martínez was seen as one of them by the Coventry fans, as well as his compatriot Iván Guerrero who was brought to the club around the same time. It could be argued that Strachan had nothing to do with either of these signings – the squad at that time was arguably too large, and many players brought by consortia more concerned with making a profit on future sales. However, Martinez scored 3 league goals in just 5 starts, with all goals coming away from home against Barnsley, Gillingham and Millwall. He returned to Honduras and Motagua, then had a short stint in the Mexican second division and a season at Olimpia, before again turning out for Motagua. A knee injury eventually cut short his career and he retired in 2008, aged 30. He scored 50 goals in total for Motagua, making him the 5th most prolific scorer in the club's history.

International career

Martínez made his debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in a November 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and has earned a total of 38 caps, scoring 13 goals. He has represented his country in 4

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. He also played at the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2007 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup was the ninth version of the biennial association football, football tournament for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America. The event took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from February 8 to February 18, 2007. I ...

s as well as at the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

s and

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from J ...

.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2007 – Full Details
. RSSSF. His final international was a February 2008 friendly match against

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

International goals

Honours and awards

Club

F.C. Motagua *

Copa Interclubes UNCAF The UNCAF Interclub Cup was an annual international football competition held in the UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each national league qualified automatic ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Jairo 1978 births Living people Footballers from La Ceiba Men's association football forwards Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers Pan American Games silver medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Honduras Footballers at the 1999 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Honduras 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players F.C. Motagua players Coventry City F.C. players C.D. Olimpia players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Honduran expatriate men's footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico English Football League players Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games