Léo Martins

Léonardo Barral Martins Santos (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).

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. Eventually, they landed a contract with CD Canillas. During this time, they began the application process for Portuguese citizenship. This was possible since their paternal great-grandfather was from the country. In 2009, citizenship was achieved. 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 and soon after, Flamengo. six months after his brother. Léo scored his first goal for Portugal in his second appearance, against Senegal 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 in December 2015. That year, both brothers also joined Braga with whom they would go on to win multiple domestic and European club titles.

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. 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 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.

Statistics

Country Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 6 1 2017 4 2 2019 6 8 2021 3 8 Total 19 19 — Competition Season Apps Goals Ref.Euro Beach Soccer League 2015 2 1 2016 4 4 2017 10 14 2018 10 8 2019 7 5 2020 4 7 2021 7 14 2022 6 13 2023 6 4 Total 56 70 —

Club Tournament Year Club Apps Goals Ref.Euro Winners Cup 2014 Milano 7 13 2015 4 0 2016 Braga 7 10 2017 7 5 2018 7 12 2019 8 7 2020 7 7 2021 8 8 2022 7 10 2023 9 12 Total 71 84 —

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

Country FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Winner (2): 2015, 2019 Euro Beach Soccer League Winner (4): 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021 European Games Gold medal (1): 2019 Intercontinental Cup Runner-up (1): 2017 Mediterranean Beach Games Silver medal (2): 2019, 2023

Club Euro Winners Cup Winner (3): 2017, 2018, 2019 Runner-up (4): 2014, 2020, 2021, 2022 Mundialito de Clubes Winner (2): 2019, 2020 Runner-up (2): 2013, 2021

Individual Beach Soccer Stars (1): World's top 3 best players: 2021 Euro Beach Soccer League (5): Superfinal: Best player: 2020, 2021 Regular season stages: Top scorer: 2022 (x1) Euro Winners Cup (1): Top scorer: 2014

Orders