Bernardo Barral Martins Santos (born 29 December 1989), better known simply as Bê 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

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 ...

. 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 claimed the Bronze Ball (third best player) award at the latter, and in 2022, was named the world's best player at the Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremony. Martins 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,

Léo Léo is a proper noun in French, meaning "lion". Its etymological root lies in the Latin word Leo. Léo is used as a diminutive or variant of the names Léon, Léonard, Léonardon, Leonardo, Léonid, ''Léonor'', '' Léonore'', ''Eléonore'' ...

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

Biography

Martins and his twin brother,

, 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 ...

. Bê was born two minutes before his younger 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. Bê progressed somewhat quicker than his brother; after impressing for Flamengo at the

2012 Mundialito de Clubes The second Mundialito de Clubes (or Club World Cup) was a beach soccer tournament that took place at the Praia do Sol stadium at the Arena Guarapiranga sport complex, located near Represa de Guarapiranga, a reservoir located in São Paulo, Brazil f ...

, he was offered a role at a Russian club to which he moved. He was later followed by his twin. Bê was called up to the Brazil national team in 2012 for an exhibition tournament in

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. However, soon after, Júnior Negão became the new head coach of Brazil, and Bê found himself out of favour. The twins received an offer to join the Portugal squad at the end of 2014 after playing for clubs in Italy. Despite renewed offers from the Brazil national team for Bê, 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.'' * ...

who supported their integration into the Portuguese squad when they learnt of their citizenship. Bê debuted for Portugal at the 2014 Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup, six months before his brother, earning 15 caps during that time. The following year, aged 24, Bê was awarded with the "Rising Star" commendation at the 2015 Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremony, as chosen by the

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 ...

expert committee. This followed his role in Portugal's 2015 World Cup win, which, in response to, Bê, 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 moved to

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. Bê's stock value particularly began to rise following his influential performances during Portugal's 2019 World Cup win, when he was honoured as the third best player of the competition, winning the Bronze Ball award. Following the World Cup victory, along with the rest of the squad, Bê 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 ...

. In 2021, he was named as part of the year's world dream team. In 2022, he won the world's best player award at the Beach Soccer Stars ceremony, the latter of which he described as "exceptionally rewarding" and a "recognition of all my hard work". He was honoured as beach soccer player of the year at the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation ( , FPF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (, UPF) by the three existing regional associations of Lisbon Footbal ...

(FPF)'s annual year-ending ''Quinas de Ouro'' (Golden Shields) awards in 2023.

Statistics

;County ;Club

Honours

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours that Bê 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):

**Bronze medal (1):

* Euro Beach Soccer Cup **Winner (1): 2016 * Mundialito **Winner (4):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 (1):

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):

**Runner-up (4):

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 (3):

, 2020 **Runner-up (2):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, 2021

Individual

(1): **Bronze Ball: 2019 * Beach Soccer Stars (4): **World's best player: 2022 **World dream team: 2021, 2022 **Rising star: 2015 *

(2): **Superfinal: ***Best player: 2016 **Regular season stages: ***Best player:

(x1) *

(1): **Best player: 2019 * FPF Quinas de Ouro (1): **Beach soccer player of the year: 2023

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

*
Bernardo Santos
profile at

Bê Martins
at playmakerstats.com (English version of zerozero.pt)
Bernardo Barral Martins
profile at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Bê 1989 births Living people Portuguese beach soccer players European Games gold medalists for Portugal European Games bronze medalists for Portugal European Games medalists in beach soccer Beach soccer players at the 2015 European Games Beach soccer players at the 2019 European Games Beach soccer players at the 2023 European Games Brazilian emigrants to Portugal Officers of the Order of Prince Henry Commanders of the Order of Merit (Portugal) Portuguese twins