Lieke Martens

Martens primarily plays as a winger that is capable of playing either flank, but prefers the left wing, despite being right-footed. Martens solely plays as a left wing for her national team and for Barcelona, but switched between the right and left wings for the beginning of her Barcelona career. Because she is right-footed, she scores goals primarily with her right foot. She also has a tendency to cut inside during dribbles. Martens was identified as a top attacking talent as a young child by former Netherlands national team coach Vera Pauw, who has praised her attacking ability, saying Martens has “done things she's never seen any other player do." When she was a teenager, former Netherlands women's nation team coach Roger Reijners described her as a constant threat at goal with quality ball skills and ball retention. Martens has many times been compared to Dutch footballing legend Johan Cruyff, in terms of their playing positions, playing styles, skills, and leadership, as well as the teams they both played for. In the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, she performed a Cruyff Turn against a New Zealand defender.

SC Heerenveen

Martens made the step to the Vrouwen Eredivisie at sixteen, first representing SC Heerenveen. She scored twice in eighteen appearances for the club.

VVV-Venlo

Martens continued playing football in the Netherlands when she joined the newly-formed VVV-Venlo women's team, based in her hometown province of Limburg. Martens scored the club's first ever goal in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, a penalty against her former club SC Heerenveen. She played 20 matches for the club and scored nine times.

Standard Liège

In 2011, Martens made the move from the Vrouwen Eredivisie to the Belgian First Division, where she played for Standard Liège. In her first official match with Standard she scored two goals to help win her first major title, the newly founded BeNe Super Cup. She also won the 2011–12 league title with the club in the Belgian Women's First Division, now known as the Belgian Women's Super League. She made her UEFA Women's Champions League debut with Standard, scoring once in their Round of 32 tie against Brøndby IF. Her first Champions League goal came in the second leg, where she converted a penalty to bring Standard 4–3 up, but they lost the tie on a 5–4 aggregate score. Martens scored 17 goals in the six months she was at the club.

Duisburg

After spending a year playing for Standard Liège, she made the move to German Bundesliga club FCR 2001 Duisburg. Duisburg sporting director Claudio Marcone said her decision was influenced by…

Dutch youth teams

Martens represented the Netherlands at a U-15, U-16, U-17, and U-19 levels. Martens was at the 2010 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship with the Netherlands, her first of two U-19 Euro tournaments with the Netherlands. Martens played the first game of the group stages against France, substituting on for Vanity Lewerissa in the 30th minute. She scored within 15 seconds with a header off a corner to put the Dutch 2–0 up, and also conceded a foul that gave a French player a red card. The following match against Macedonia, she earned a start and scored two goals- the first within 45 seconds, and the second in the 66th minute to put the Dutch 6–0 up. Martens started again in her last match of the group against Spain, where she scored once more with a header in the 39th minute. The Dutch met England in the semifinals where it went to penalties, and despite Martens converting her penalty, England won and went on to the final. Martens ended her tournament as top scorer, tied at four goals with German player Turid Knaak. UEFA named her as one of the top 10 emerging talents from the tournament.

Senior team

2011–2013: Debut and first Euro tournament

In August 2011 she played her first game for the senior national team, in a friendly match against China. Martens became a regular starter for the national team around 2012. In June 2013, national team coach Roger Reijners selected Martens in the Netherlands squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in…

Lieke Elisabeth Petronella Martens was born on 16 December 1992, in Bergen in the north of the Dutch province of Limburg. She recalls playing football in her garden as a child. Martens began playing football at five years old at local club RKVV Montagnards. At thirteen, she went to Boxmeer club Olympia '18 at the insistence of then national-team coach Vera Pauw, where she played with teams of boys. She then went to the Hogeschool van Amsterdam between the years of 2008–2009 before leaving to SC Heerenveen.