Léonardo Barral Martins Santos (born 29 December 1989), better known simply as Léo Martins, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

player who plays 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 ...

. He is a two-time winner of the

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the Beach Soccer World Championshi ...

(

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

). He has an

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother, Bernardo, who is also a high-profile beach soccer player.

Biography

Léo and his twin brother,

Bê Martins Bernardo Barral Martins Santos (born 29 December 1989), better known simply as Bê Martins, is a Brazilian diaspora, Brazilian-born, Portugal, Portuguese beach soccer player who plays as a midfielder. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA Beach So ...

, were born in

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 ...

. Léo was born two minutes after his older sibling. Aged 18, they went to play

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on the promise of a contract. However, when they arrived, an issue with their agent meant there was no club to sign for. The move was funded by their parents, but without an income the money soon ran out and the brothers found themselves broke and starving. Despite this, they stayed in Spain to attempt to recuperate the money for their parents. Eventually, they landed a contract with CD Canillas. During this time, they began the application process for

Portuguese citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Portugal is the Nationality Act, which Coming into force, came into force on 3 October 1981. Portugal is a member state of the European Union (EU) and all Portuguese nationals are Citizenship of the Eur ...

.Melhor do que um campeão, só ter outro igual
(in Portuguese). MaisFutebol. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2020. This was possible since their

paternal A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fathe ...

great-grandfather was from the country. In 2009, citizenship was achieved.São gémeos brasileiros, mas é com um título por Portugal que sonham

Diário de Notícias () is a Portuguese weekly newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in Lisbon on 29 December 1 ...

. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Aged 21, in 2011, their contracts ended and their mother developed a health issue, and so they returned to Brazil. To maintain their fitness, they began training on the beach. Struggling to find a new football club, they started to pursue beach soccer instead, joining

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

and soon after,

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

.Bê e Léo, a historia dos gémeos campeões do mundo por Portugal
(in Portuguese). TSF. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Léo's progress was slightly behind his brother's, who moved on to a Russian club before him. After finishing as top scorer at the

2014 Euro Winners Cup The second edition of Euro Winners Cup was a beach soccer tournament in Catania, Italy, from 3 – 8 June 2014. The tournament brought together club champions of many domestic beach soccer leagues across Europe, almost in the same vein as the UE ...

, Léo, and brother Bê, received an offer to join the Portugal squad at the end of 2014 after playing for clubs in Italy. Despite offers from the Brazil national team, the brothers decided they wanted to represent Portugal instead, citing their belief that there would be less chance of a "follow-up" if they were to join Brazil, their admiration for the country, and for Portuguese legends

Madjer João Victor Saraiva (born 22 January 1977), better known as Madjer, is a Portuguese retired beach soccer player. He played in the Striker (association football), forward position, and has won numerous awards at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups ...

and

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

. Léo debuted for Portugal on 9 July 2015 at the

2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer competition for men's national teams, which has been organized by FIFA since 2005. Overall, this was the 18th e ...

, six months after his brother. Léo scored his first goal for Portugal in his second appearance, against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

on 11 July. Portugal won the tournament, and in response, Léo, along with the rest of the squad, were appointed as

Officers of the Order of Prince Henry An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in December 2015. That year, both brothers also joined

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

with whom they would go on to win multiple domestic and European club titles. In 2016, Léo combined with

to finish off a

one-two One-two, 1-2, 1 & 2 or 1+2 may refer to: Sports * Push and run, in association football * One-two combo, in boxing Music * '' One, Two'', album by Sister Nancy * ''1 + 2'' (album), album by Recoil * ''Volumes 1 & 2'' (The Desert Sessions albu ...

move versus

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

nominated for goal of the year, but his effort was beaten by Nick Perera of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2019, following Portugal's 2019 World Cup victory, along with the rest of the squad, Léo was made a Commander of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

. He was also named as one of the tournament's top ten best players, out of the 192 participants. He ended the season as the second highest scorer in

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of the association football-based sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known ...

competitions with 69 goals. In 2021, Léo was voted by fellow national team captains and coaches as one of the best three players in the world at the Beach Soccer Stars awards in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Statistics

;Country ;Club

Honours

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours that Léo has achieved:

Country

**Winner (2):

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer featuring European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in Europe ...

**Winner (4):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from countries served by national Olympic committees within the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the regional association for such committ ...

**Gold medal (1):

* Intercontinental Cup **Runner-up (1):

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Mediterranean Beach Games The Mediterranean Beach Games is a multi-sport event organized by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM) since 2015. Formation The CIJM formed the games in a meeting on October 20, 2012 in Mersin, Turkey, and decided on a for ...

**Silver medal (2):

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 ...

Club

Euro Winners Cup The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from ...

**Winner (3):

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

**Runner-up (4):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 ...

Mundialito de Clubes The Mundialito de Clubes () is an international club beach soccer competition contested between top men's clubs from around the world. The tournament is loosely similar to the FIFA Club World Cup in association football, however participating team ...

**Winner (2):

, 2020 **Runner-up (2):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 2021

Individual

* Beach Soccer Stars (1): **World's top 3 best players: 2021 *

(5): **Superfinal: ***Best player: 2020, 2021 **Regular season stages: ***Best player:

(x1), 2022 (x1) ***Top scorer: 2022 (x1) *

(1): **Top scorer: 2014

Orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

Officer (OIH) 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 ...

(since 2015) * POR Ordem do Merito Comendador BAR

Commander (ComM) of the

(since 2019)

References

External links

*
Leonardo Barral Martins Santos
profile at

Léo Martins
at playmakerstats.com (English version of zerozero.pt)
Leonardo Barral Martins
profile at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Leo 1989 births Living people Portuguese beach soccer players European Games gold medalists for Portugal European Games medalists in beach soccer Beach soccer players at the 2019 European Games Beach soccer players at the 2023 European Games Brazilian emigrants to Portugal Commanders of the Order of Merit (Portugal) Officers of the Order of Prince Henry Portuguese twins