Luís Carlos Ramos Martins (; born 10 June 1992) is a Portuguese professional footballer 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 ...

Club career

Benfica and Gil

Born in Lamego,

Viseu District The Districts of Portugal, District of Viseu ( ) is located in the Central Inland of Portugal, the District Capital is the city of Viseu. Municipalities The district is composed by 24 municipalities: * Armamar Municipality, Armamar * Carregal d ...

, Martins was promoted to S.L. Benfica's first team for the 2011–12 season. He made his official debut for the club on 2 November 2011, starting in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage game against

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

and being replaced at the hour-mark of the 1–1 home draw by Miguel Vítor. Martins started the 2012–13 campaign with Benfica's reserves, in the Segunda Liga. On 9 January 2013, however, he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Gil Vicente F.C. of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

. He scored his first goal for the latter on 18 August of that year, closing a 2–0 home win over Académica de Coimbra.

Spain

On 1 September 2014, Martins agreed to a four-year deal with

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 ...

from Spain, for an undisclosed fee. He played his first match in

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 ...

on the 27th, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 6–0 away loss to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. On 24 August 2015, Martins was loaned to

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 ...

side CA Osasuna for one year. Late into the 2017 January

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, after only 73 minutes of action upon his return to the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes, he joined C.S. Marítimo on a two-year loan.

Chaves

Martins signed a two-year contract with G.D. Chaves in June 2018. He scored his only goal for them on 10 February 2019, in a 2–1 league defeat at S.C. Braga.

Sporting KC

On 1 August 2019, Martins joined

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

until the end of the 2021 season with an option through to 2022. He scored his only goal for the club on 4 August 2021, the second in the 4–1 away win over

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

. Martins was released in November 2021.

Vancouver Whitecaps

On 4 May 2022, Martins signed with

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

also of the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

for the remainder of the campaign. After winning consecutive Canadian Championship finals in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, his contract was bought out in September 2024.

International career

Martins was picked by Portugal under-20 coach Ilídio Vale for the 2011 FIFA World Cup in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, helping the national team finish second to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Honours

Vancouver Whitecaps FC * Canadian Championship:

Portugal U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

runner-up:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Orders *

Knight of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Luis 1992 births Living people People from Lamego 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Viseu District Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players Gil Vicente F.C. players C.S. Marítimo players G.D. Chaves players La Liga players Segunda División players Granada CF footballers CA Osasuna players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Sporting Kansas City players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Whitecaps FC 2 players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Canada