Vítor Manuel Rosa Martins (born 27 March 1950) is a Portuguese former

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Born in Alcobaça,

Leiria District The District of Leiria ( ) is a district located between the Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Centro regions of Portugal, and divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura. It borders on the north with district of Coimbra, ...

, Martins spent his entire professional career with

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

after joining the club's youth system at the age of 15. He was part of the squads that won six

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 ...

championships in the 70s, scoring in his league debut on 1 December 1969 against U.F.C.I. Tomar (6–0 home win). Martins was forced to retire at the age of only 29: after undergoing surgery for a

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) In physics (particularly liquid statics), the meniscus (: menisci, ) is the curve in the upper sur ...

injury two years earlier, he suffered an

embolism An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas (air embolism, gas embolism), amniotic ...

. He continued to work with Benfica, as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

International career

Martins earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

over four months. One of them was a 0–0

UEFA Euro 1976 The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA and the first and only tournament that was held in a socialist state. The ...

qualifier with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

, on 20 November 1974.

Honours

: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Vitor 1950 births Living people People from Alcobaça, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Leiria District Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers S.L. Benfica non-playing staff 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen

Club career

International career

Honours

See also

References

External links