Léo Martins

Léonardo Barral Martins Santos ComM (born 29 December 1989), better known simply as Léo Martins, is a Brazilian-born, Portuguese beach soccer player who plays as a forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2015 and 2019).

Léo Martins
ComM
Léo Martins playing for Flamengo in 2016.
Personal information
Full name Léonardo Barral Martins Santos
Date of birth (1989-12-29) 29 December 1989
Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Forward
International career‡
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015– Portugal 113 (126)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of December 2019

He has an identical twin brother, Bernardo, who is also a high-profile beach soccer player.

Biography

Léo and his twin brother, Bê Martins, were born in Brazil. Léo was born two minutes after his older sibling.[1] Aged 18, they went to play association football in Spain. During this time, they began the application process for Portuguese citizenship.[2] This was possible since their paternal great-grandfather was from the country. In 2009, citizenship was achieved.[3] In 2011, their contracts ended and aged 21, they returned to Brazil to find a new club. 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 and soon after, Flamengo.[1][2] 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, Léo, and brother Bê received an offer to join the Portugal squad at the end of 2014 after playing for clubs in Italy.[1] 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 and Alan.[2] Léo debuted for Portugal on 9 July 2015 at the 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup,[4] six months after his brother.

Léo scored his first goal for Portugal in his second appearance, against Senegal on 11 July.[5] That year, both brothers moved to Braga with whom they would go on to win multiple domestic and European titles.[2]

In 2019, he was the second highest scorer in Beach Soccer Worldwide competitions with 69 goals.[6] Following Portugal's 2019 World Cup victory, along with the rest of the squad, Léo was made a Commander of the Order of Merit.[7]

Statistics

Honours

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

References
  1. Bê e Léo, a historia dos gémeos campeões do mundo por Portugal (in Portuguese). TSF. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. Melhor do que um campeão, só ter outro igual (in Portuguese). MaisFutebol. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  3. São gémeos brasileiros, mas é com um título por Portugal que sonham. Diário de Notícias. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  4. Leonardo Santos (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  5. #4 - Entrevista a Léo Martins ( Fut. Praia ) (in Portuguese). MaisFutebol. March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  6. The 2019 in figures. Beach Soccer Worldwide. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. "Campeões do Mundo condecorados: "Bom exemplo para todos os portugueses"" (in Portuguese). ZeroZero.pt. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
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