Roberto Martinez · Biography

On 11 May 2013 at Wembley, Ben Watson scored with a header in the 91st minute to give Wigan Athletic a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final. The manager was Roberto Martínez Montoliu, born in Balaguer, Lleida, on 13 July 1973. Three days later, the same Wigan side were relegated from the Premier League. That week sums up much of the career of a coach who learned his trade in the lower divisions of English football and later managed Belgium and Portugal.

Early years and the move to England

Martínez came through the youth system at Real Zaragoza as a midfielder. He played for the reserve team from 1991 to 1994, with 36 goals in 55 league games, and made one appearance for the first team in 1993. During his time in Zaragoza he also earned a degree in physiotherapy. In 1994-95 he went back to his home town to play for CF Balaguer, scoring 18 goals in 32 league games.

In July 1995 he joined Wigan Athletic with two other Spaniards, Jesús Seba and Isidro Díaz. The local press called the trio the “Three Amigos”. He spent six seasons at the club, playing 187 league games and scoring 17 goals, and won the Third Division title in 1996-97. He was named Wigan’s Player of the Year in 1996 and picked for the PFA Third Division Team of the Year in both 1995-96 and 1996-97.

The end of his playing career

After leaving Wigan in 2001 he played for Motherwell in Scotland (2001-02) and then Walsall (2002-03). In 2003 he joined Swansea City, where he played 122 league games over three seasons. He finished his playing career at Chester City in 2006-07, with 450 league games and 78 goals overall. He also completed a postgraduate diploma in business management at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Swansea and Wigan as manager

Swansea City appointed him manager on 24 February 2007, while he was still registered as a player at Chester. In his first full season, 2007-08, Swansea won League One and went back up to the second tier, playing a possession-based game. On 15 June 2009 he returned to Wigan Athletic, then in the Premier League, as manager.

He spent four seasons at Wigan, mostly fighting relegation. The 2012-13 season ended with the 2013 FA Cup, the first major trophy in the club’s history, and with relegation confirmed on 14 May. That year he was named the LMA’s FA Cup Manager of the Year.

Everton

On 5 June 2013 Everton appointed him to replace David Moyes, who had left for Manchester United. His first season, 2013-14, ended with Everton fifth on 72 points, the club’s best total of the Premier League era, with 21 wins and a place in Europe. The next two seasons were less consistent in the league, and Everton sacked him on 12 May 2016.

Belgium head coach

The Belgian FA named him head coach on 3 August 2016. With a group that included Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, Belgium rose to first place in the FIFA rankings. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia they beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarter-finals, lost 1-0 to France in the semi-finals and beat England to finish third, the country’s best result at a World Cup. At Euro 2020, played in 2021, Italy knocked them out 2-1 in the quarter-finals in Munich. After Belgium went out in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he resigned on 1 December 2022.

Portugal head coach

Portugal hired him on 9 January 2023. They won all ten of their Euro 2024 qualifiers and, at the tournament in Germany, lost to France on penalties in the quarter-finals. In 2025 Portugal won the UEFA Nations League, beating Spain 5-3 on penalties in the final. At the 2026 World Cup they lost 1-0 to Spain in the round of 16, and Martínez resigned on 6 July 2026.