Pedro Martins (footballer)


Pedro Rui da Mota Vieira Martins is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current manager of Greek club Olympiacos.
He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 197 matches and nine goals during ten seasons, in representation of Feirense, Vitória de Guimarães, Sporting, Boavista, Santa Clara and Alverca. He added 126 games and eight goals in the Segunda Liga, in a sixteen-year professional career.
Martins started working as a manager in 2006, starting out at União de Lamas and going on to spend four years at Marítimo.

Playing career

Club

Born in Feira, Santa Maria da Feira, Martins started out at local C.D. Feirense, achieving promotion to the Primeira Liga at the end of the 1988–89 season. He made his debut in the competition on 19 August 1989 at the age of 19, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win against C.F. União; he began his career as an attacking midfielder.
In 1994, Martins signed with Vitória de Guimarães. He scored a career-best five goals in his first and only season, helping to a fourth-place finish and the subsequent qualification to the UEFA Cup.
Martins joined Sporting CP in summer 1995, alongside teammate and namesake Pedro Barbosa. He was relatively used during his three-year tenure at the Estádio José Alvalade, making his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League on 27 August 1997 by featuring the last 18 minutes of the 3–0 home defeat of Beitar Jerusalem F.C. in the second qualifying round.
In the following four years, Martins continued to compete in Portuguese top division, with Boavista FC, C.D. Santa Clara and F.C. Alverca. He retired at the age of 34 after his stint with the latter side, later having assistant manager spells at Vitória de Setúbal, FC Porto and C.F. Os Belenenses.

International

Martins won one cap for Portugal, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 0–0 away draw to Northern Ireland for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, on 29 March 1997.

Coaching career

Martins' first job as a head coach was with C.F. União de Lamas in 2006, and he continued working in the third level in the following years, with Lusitânia F.C. and S.C. Espinho. For a few months in 2010 he was at the helm of C.S. Marítimo's reserves in the same tier but, in September of that year, he was promoted to the first team in the top flight after the sacking of Mitchell van der Gaag.
Martins led the Madeirans to the fifth position in the 2011–12 campaign, which earned them a place in the Europa League third qualifying round and eventually the group stage. In April 2014, he announced he would leave his post on 30 June.
Subsequently, Martins was appointed at Rio Ave FC. He managed another Europa League qualification in 2015–16 after ranking sixth and, on 17 May 2016, announced he would not continue with the club.
On 23 May 2016, Martins signed a two-year contract with former side Vitória de Guimarães. They finished the first season in fourth place and automatically qualified for the Europa League group phase after reaching and losing the final of the Taça de Portugal, to S.L. Benfica; on 18 February 2018, however, he decided to leave due to poor results.
On 9 April 2018, Martins replaced the fired Óscar García at the helm of Olympiacos FC, signing a contract until June 2020. In his second full season, he won the club's 45th Super League Greece title.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Sporting
Rio Ave
Vitória de Guimarães
Olympiacos