Leandro Antonio Martínez (born 15 October 1989) is an Argentine-Italian

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 most recently played as a forward for Borgo San Donnino FC.

Biography

Parma and loans

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Martínez moved to Italy in 2003. He was a member of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

's Primavera under-20 team. At age 18, he was offered a professional contract of reported 5-year (or 3+2 years, as ''N.O.I.F.'' of FIGC only allowed a maximum of 3-year for Italians "young professional"). He made his Serie A debut on 27 April 2008, replaced

Cristiano Lucarelli Cristiano Lucarelli (; born 4 October 1975) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a forward. Club career Lucarelli was born in Livorno, Italy. A journeyman striker, he had stints with eight different teams (includ ...

at 2nd half, at that time Parma already losing to Reggina 1–2. His primavera team-mate Aleksandar Prijović also substituted Daniele Dessena on that match, and Parma eventually 1–2 lost with Reggina. Parma relegated to Serie B in June and Martínez was loaned to

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

in August 2008. He failed to make his club debut and left the club for Carpenedolo in January 2009. On 1 September 2009 he left for

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

but in December 2009 returned to Parma for family reason. In January 2010 he left for Swiss 1. Liga side Biaschesi.

AlbinoLeffe

On 12 July 2010, he was signed by

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side AlbinoLeffe for free. Since AlbinoLeffe had lost Francesco Ruopolo and Marco Cellini, Martínez formed a new striking line with

Karamoko Cissé Karamoko Cissé (born 14 November 1988) is a Guinean footballer who plays as a forward. Cissé also holds Italian nationality. Biography Born in Guinea in 1988, Cissé moved with his family to Sorisole, Italy in 2000. Club career After spendin ...

and

Omar Torri Omar Torri (born 30 March 1982 in Trescore Balneario) is an Italian professional football player. Currently, he plays for Monza. Football career On 3 July 2007, he was signed by Serie B side AlbinoLeffe in 3-year contract from Serie D side US ...

, who played as backup players for AlbinoLeffe in the last season. The latter 2 scored 3 goals in the opening match, making AlbinoLeffe won fellow Serie B club

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

3–1 in

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

. However, Martínez soon dropped from starting line-up. Martínez did not play any game in

2011–12 Serie B The 2011–12 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the eightieth season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 of these were returning from the 2010–11 season, four had been pro ...

and followed by the club relegation and heavy fine due to

2011 Italian football scandal Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

, Martínez was signed by

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

in August 2012.

Hungary

On 31 January 2013 his contract was terminated in a mutual consent and moved to Hungarian side Budapest Honvéd on the same day. He was presented on 1 February. After spending five months at the club he joined defending champion Győri ETO. On 20 January 2015 he moved to Haladás. He left the club in December 2017.

Return to Italy

After one month and a half at

Talleres de Remedios de Escalada Club Atlético Talleres, usually called Talleres de Remedios de Escalada, is an Argentina, Argentine sports club sited in the Remedios de Escalada district of Lanús Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association footb ...

in Argentina, Italien club GS Felino announced on 29 October 2019, that he had joined the club. Leandros brother, Emanuel, was also playing for Felino and as of Leandro's Instagram page, he also worked as a youth coach at the club. On 12 December 2019, Martínez joined Borgo San Donnino FC alongside his brother, Emanuel.Ufficiale: Leo Martinez raggiunge Emanuel al San Donnino
sportparma.com, 12 December 2019

International career

Martínez made his U20 debut on 10 September 2008 against Switzerland U20, a 2008–09 Four Nations Tournament match.

References

External links

Profile at Football.it

FIGC National Team Data

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2007–08)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Leandro Antonio 1989 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Italian sportspeople of Argentine descent Naturalised citizens of Italy Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Parma Calcio 1913 players Ternana Calcio players FC Carpenedolo SSD players FC Südtirol players UC AlbinoLeffe players US Cremonese players Budapest Honvéd FC players Győri ETO FC players Lucchese 1905 players MTK Budapest FC players Szombathelyi Haladás footballers Talleres de Remedios de Escalada footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Italian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary 21st-century Italian sportsmen