Derwin Martina (born 19 July 1994) is a 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Ajax

Martina was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, joining the

Ajax Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

in 2008. He began his career in the youth teams of Ajax as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, but was moved back to play as a defender later in his career. It was youth trainer Said Ouaali who had opted to move the young forward to a more defensive role, after which comparisons of the young right back were commonly made to

Michael Reiziger Michael John Reiziger (; born 3 May 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right back. Reiziger currently manages the Netherlands U21 team. After making a name for himself at Ajax, with whom he won one Champio ...

due to their similar playing style. In July 2013, he signed a one-year professional contract with Ajax.

RKC Waalwijk

On 25 June 2014,

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

signed Martina from Ajax on a free transfer. Martina signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional season. On 8 August 2014, he made his debut for RKC Waalwijk in an

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

match against

Roda JC Kerkrade Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the ...

, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 away loss. In October 2014, Martina contracted deep vein thrombosis on a trip to Curaçao to play for the national team. He made no further appearances until after the Winter break as a result. In January 2016, his contract was terminated. Due to injuries, he only played 16 matches for RKC Waalwijk. He had missed the entire beginning of the 2015–16 season due to his injuries.

Atlantis FC

In the summer of 2016, Martina signed with

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. Until the end of 2023, ''Kakkonen'' was the third-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-t ...

club

Atlantis FC Atlantis FC is a Finnish football club, based in Helsinki. It currently plays in the third tier of Finnish football (''Ykkönen''). History The club was founded in late 1995 when Johanneksen Dynamo (founded 1980) and FC Norssi (founded 1985) m ...

. In September 2016, he was investigated alongside fellow Dutch players Salah Aharar, Irvingly van Eijma and Ayoub Ait Afkir for

match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

accusations. In December 2016, the players were found innocent, but that the club had been frequently bet on by several groups of match fixers at the same time, raising suspicions of foul play.

York City

On 3 March 2017, Martina signed for

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on a contract until the end of 2016–17. Immediately after playing in a reserve-team match on 7 March 2017, he was released by the club.

Achilles '29

On 15 June 2017, Martina signed for

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 19 ...

club

Achilles '29 Achilles '29 is a football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands, competing in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse. The club is known for its successes in the Dutch domestic cup, having knocked FC Volendam, Heracles Almelo, RKC Waalwijk, Telstar and ...

. He left the club in July 2018.

VV Noordwijk

After being a free agent for 2 years after leaving

he signed for

club

VV Noordwijk Voetbalvereniging Noordwijk is a Dutch football club founded in 1933, based in Noordwijk. It currently competes in the Tweede Divisie. History VV Noordwijk was founded on 4 March 1933. 1940s–1960s: Vierde, Derde, and Tweede Klasse During ...

on 18 June 2020.

OFC Oostzaan

On 1 July 2021, he signed for

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

club

OFC Oostzaan Oostzaanse Football Club is a football club based in Oostzaan, Netherlands, that competes in the Vierde Klasse, the ninth tier of the Dutch football league system. History 20th century OFC was founded on 1 July 1932. From 1939s to 2009 it p ...

. He left the club at the end of the season after they became champion and were promoted to the second division.

International career

On 8 January 2013, Martina was called up by Curaçao national under-20 team coach Hans Schrijver for the

2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was an association football tournament that took place between February 18 and March 3, 2013. The CONCACAF U-20 Championship determined the four CONCACAF teams that would participate at the 2013 FIFA U-20 Wo ...

in Mexico. Martina appeared in two group stage matches against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

but failed to help his team advance past the group stage of the tournament. He received his first call ups for the senior team ahead of the second round of the

2014 Caribbean Cup The 2014 Caribbean Cup was the 18th edition of the Caribbean Cup, an international Association football, football competition for national teams of member nations affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) of the CONCACAF region. The fin ...

qualifying series against

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

and

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

contested in Guadeloupe from 8 to 12 October 2014.

Personal life

It had been reported that he was a brother to fellow footballers Cuco and Javier. However, he confirmed that he is not related to Cuco.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martina, Derwin 1994 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Curaçao men's footballers Men's association football defenders AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players RKC Waalwijk players Atlantis FC players York City F.C. players Achilles '29 players Eerste Divisie players Kakkonen players Tweede Divisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Curaçao expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Finland Dutch people of Curaçao descent 21st-century Dutch sportsmen