Each year on Eugene ‘Pele’ Martinez’s mother’s birthday, a soccer tournament takes place in her backyard. Kids from their neighbourhood in Belize are invited over to play the sport they love. The highlight, however, is the inspirational speech that she gives to the kids.

It started as a birthday gift — Martinez wanted to get his mother something different from the usual materialistic presents. So he dreamt up the tournament, which he knew his mother would appreciate, having been a teacher who always loved helping kids reach their potential.

That was also the starting point for Martinez’s ‘Pele Soccer Foundation’, which for the past five years has taught kids in Belize the fundamentals of the sport and the importance of education while providing them with gear and equipment. The foundation was created to honour his mother, but the name is a tribute to his late father.

Any time someone in the football world adopts the mononym ‘Pele’ it is sure to draw attention. The Brazilian Pelé is one of the most storied players in the sport’s history, having scored 77 goals for his country while winning the World Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970. That is just a small taste of the legacy that Pelé, who passed away in late December, left on the sport. Martinez isn’t entirely sure of the origins of how the name was passed down to him, but he has embraced it.

“So my dad’s name was Pele, I don’t know for some reason — I don’t know where he got that name from,” said Martinez. “He passed away, he was a rich man. For me as a kid, my dad and mom didn’t really have a solid relationship. I ended up not getting anything but a name, so I’m grateful for the name and it is a name that I keep and I just try to keep the name going.” 

Now in his first year in the Canadian Premier League with expansion team Vancouver FC, Eugene ‘Pele’ Martinez, signed through the club’s preseason open trial process, is looking to make a name for himself.

Martinez’s foundation is especially meaningful to him because a similar setup allowed him to get his footballing start.

After being taught how to play the game by a girl in his neighbourhood, whom he saw juggling a ball one day and wanted to imitate, Martinez joined a youth academy in Dangriga, Belize. The program was started by a Belize expat who was living in the United States, collecting donated bags and cleats and building an environment for young soccer players in the country to succeed.

“That’s kind of what triggered me to do my foundation as well,” says Martinez. “Somebody did it for me, so I want to do it for somebody else, so it’s a trend.”

In high school, he caught the eyes of the Belize youth national team, with whom he had plenty of success. That translated into professional opportunities, first with Wagiya FC, before catching the eye of Belmopan Bandits, the country’s most successful club.

Despite achieving his professional dreams, however, perhaps influenced by his mother Martinez always considered his education to be incredibly important. Despite playing for Belmopan, and the passing of his father, he was able to achieve his highest-ever GPA that year.

With the help of his uncle in California, he decided to continue as a student-athlete, first at Cerritos College, a state community school. He spent two years with Cerritos College, with whom he won the 2018 CCCAA State Championship — earning national recognition.

A number of colleges came with offers after that, including UCLA, but at the time he couldn’t afford to play on the partial scholarship they were offering, so elected to go to Cal Poly in NCAA Division II. While playing for the Broncos, he would also earn his first call-up to the senior Belize national team.

Prior to college, Pele was, much like his Brazilian namesake, known for his goalscoring prowess, first playing as a striker before shifting to central midfield. But his Cerritos coach saw the attributes he brought on and off the field — vocal, strong, and a leader — and thought he was more suited to playing central defender.

Those were many of the attributes that helped Martinez catch the eye of Afshin Ghotbi and his coaching staff at Vancouver FC’s open trials earlier this year. He, along with Nima Moazeni Zadeh and goalkeeper Jeremy Zielinski were signed to the first team out of that process.

“The trial process was like any process, you are uneasy you don’t know if you are gonna get selected,” said Martinez. “But as soon as I came in I felt like there were just some amazing people here in Canada, not going to lie to you it just felt like home right away.”

A big part of that has been the mentorship that Ghotbi has provided since Martinez landed in Langley. He says that the incredibly experienced coach is constantly working to make the players into the best version of themselves, on and off the field.

“First of all, just being a great human being to us is really a great atmosphere to be a part of,” says Martinez. “For me, as someone who doesn’t have a dad, I look to Afshin as my dad. He is always there helping me as a person, a young man. These are things aside from soccer that he brings to us as a team.”

He is hoping to get a few of his new teammates down to Belize to help out with the foundation this summer. But first comes handling business in Canada, as the expansion Vancouver FC looks to find success on the pitch in its inaugural season.

Martinez and his teammates were part of history this past week, as the club picked up its first-ever goal and win away to York United on Saturday. He has played every minute of the club’s professional history so far. But for ‘Pele’ Martinez, the work has only just begun.

“I’m still switched on because I know that it is still a trial process for me, I signed a year, and so I am still on a trial,” says Martinez. “I haven’t accomplished anything yet.”