Christopher Martins Pereira (born 19 February 1997) is a Luxembourgish professional

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 plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

central 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 ...

for

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Spartak Moscow and the Luxembourg national team.

Club career

Martins is a youth exponent from Racing FC in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

. He transferred to the Lyon Academy in 2013. Martins made his

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

debut on 10 September 2017 in a

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

match against

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

. He started the match and was replaced by Jordan Ferri after 51 minutes in a 2–1 home win. Christopher Martins Pereira 2018

In June 2019 he signed for Swiss club Young Boys. He won both the 2019-20 and 2020-21

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

s with the club. On 31 January 2022, he joined Russian giants Spartak Moscow on a short-term loan. In their announcement of the transfer, Young Boys said that Spartak was expected to buy him out at the conclusion of the loan. Martins won the Russian Cup on 29 May 2022, with him starting in the 2-1

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

victory against

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

in what is known as the Oldest Russian derby. On 3 June 2022, Spartak confirmed Martins' permanent transfer, and his signing until 2026.

International career

Martins represented Luxembourg at youth international levels, playing for them in the under-17, under-19, and under-21 age groups. He was eligible to represent either

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, or

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

at international level; he rejected a call-up from Luxembourg's senior team in March 2013 as he had not decided which nation he wished to represent. After being called up again by Luxembourg, he made his debut on 8 September 2014, at the age of 17.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Luxembourg's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Martins goal''.

Honours

Young Boys *

: 2019–20 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 2019–20 Spartak Moscow * Russian Cup: 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martins, Christopher 1997 births Footballers from Luxembourg City Luxembourgian people of Cape Verdean descent Living people Men's association football midfielders Luxembourgian men's footballers Luxembourg men's youth international footballers Luxembourg men's under-21 international footballers Luxembourg men's international footballers Racing FC Union Luxembourg players Olympique Lyonnais players Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 players ES Troyes AC players BSC Young Boys players FC Spartak Moscow players Luxembourg National Division players Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players Swiss 1. Liga (football) players Russian Premier League players Luxembourgian expatriate men's footballers Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia 21st-century Luxembourgian sportsmen