Miguel Martins

Miguel Soares Martins (pronounced [miˈɣɛl mɐɾˈtĩʃ]; born 4 November 1997) is a Portuguese handball player for Aalborg Håndbold and the Portuguese national team.

Miguel Martins
Personal information
Full name	Miguel Soares Martins
Born	(1997-11-04) 4 November 1997 (age 27) Porto, Portugal
Nationality	Portuguese
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Aalborg Håndbold
Number	9
Youth career
Years	Team
2007-2011	AA Águas Santas
2011-2013	ADA Maia
Senior clubs
Years	Team
2013–2021	FC Porto
2021–2024	OTP Bank-Pick Szeged
2024–2025	Aalborg Håndbold
2025–	Dinamo Bucuresti
National team 1
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2016–	Portugal	111	(250)
1 National team caps and goals correct as of 15 February 2025

In addition to regular handball, Martins also plays Beach Handball.^[1]

Career

Miguel Martins started playing handball at AA Águas Santas.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 he joined Associação Desportiva e Académica da Maia,^{[citation needed]} followed by FC Porto in 2013.^{[citation needed]} In the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons he primarily played for the youth teams, but acted as a backup for the first team. From 2015 he was permanently part of the senior team. Here he won the Portuguese League 4 teams, the Portuguese Cup twice and the Supercup once. In total he played 394 games for Porto, scoring 1063 goals.^{[citation needed]}

In 2021 he joined Hungarian OTP Bank-Pick Szeged.^[2]

He represented Portugal at the 2020 European Men's Handball Championship,^[3][4] the 2021 Olympics and the 2021 World Championship.

He was excluded from 2025 World Men's Handball Championship due to accusations of doping by having unnatural levels of testosterone.^[5] A month later he was cleared of all charges and could continue the season at Aalborg Håndbold.^[6] Three days after being cleared, he won the Danish Cup with Aalborg Håndbold, beating SønderjyskE Håndbold in the semifinal and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg in the final. His team mate Simon Hald dedicated the win to Martins, calling the entire process unfair.^[7][8] At the end of February 2025 he announced his intention to leave Aalborg Håndbold at the end of the 2025 season, over concerns about playing time.^[9] Instead he will join Dinamo Bukarest.^[10]

Honours

FC Porto

• Portuguese League: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2020–21
• Portuguese Cup: 2018–19, 2020–21
• Portuguese Super Cup: 2014, 2019

OTP Bank - Pick Szeged

• Hungarian League: 2021–22