Football nomad

Rubén Martínez has put a fulfilling career behind him as a professional goalkeeper. He played in the Second Division with Barcelona and has accumulated experiences in teams such as Cultural, Zamora and Hércules. He finished his career in amongst the ranks of Badalona‘s team, where he was the only goalkeeper in Spain’s professional categories -122 teams in total – in keeping an unscored goal (link). It was “hugely satisfying and gratifying” for the Paterna goalkeeper, to whom football would bring even greater joys during his time as a technician.

After hanging up his boots in 2010, Rubén became part of Barça’s coach goalkeepers association in the lower categories of the club, where he collaborated with Tito Vilanova and Jordi Rouras. But it was with Óscar García that he consolidated and strengthened a long-term professional relationship. Rubén joined him on his tour of Europe: first, as a goalkeeper coach; then, as his right-hand man on the bench.

His first destination was Maccabi Tel Aviv.. The 2012-13 season came and went and the Israeli team managed to win the League for the first time in ten years. A result that took Ruben and Garcia to England, where with Brighton they made it to the promotion playoff for the Premier League. The following season they returned to Tel Aviv, but they had to abandon the project because of the escalating conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. They then found themselves once again in the United Kingdom and managed to ascend Watford to English football’s highest category.

After these first experiences abroad, Rubén changed course and returned to Barcelona, where he joined Marcet’s High-Performance Academy for the 2015-’16 season, as a goalkeeping coach, putting competitive football to one side for a few months to dedicate himself to the training of young talents under the command of Carlos Rivero. Until Óscar García called him again.

This time his destination was Austria, where Ruben began to act as the second coach for Red Bull Salzburg, where he obtained the best results of his sports career, becoming champion of both the League and the Cup of the Alpine country. After these successes, two important experiences followed in Saint-Étienne (Framce) and Olympiacos (Greece). The rest has yet to be written.