Born in 2008, Paraguayan striker Claudia Martínez burst onto the international scene at the CONMEBOL SUB17 2025, scoring 10 goals in 9 matches and helping her youth national team win the tournament. Just two months later, she solidified her reputation at the Copa America F 2025, finishing as joint top-scorer with 6 goals in 5 matches.
Martínez is a right-footed wide forward / left striker who excels as a channel runner and thrives in open space by utilizing her impressive top-speed and balance. She is an excellent finisher with her preferred right foot. However, her ball control and manipulation limit her effectiveness in tight spaces, making her better suited for direct and counter-attacking teams. Despite her height, she is neither an aerial threat nor a classic target forward.
As a tall attacker with remarkable speed and balance, Martínez poses a formidable threat when attacking space behind the defensive line. Though she matches many center-backs in height, she struggles as an aerial threat and long-ball outlet for her team – often mistiming her jumps and failing to create space before duels. Her hold-up play remains underdeveloped; while she can shield the ball and absorb contact, she lacks the technique to maintain possession under pressure and progress play.
Finishing stands as Martínez’s most outstanding quality. She strikes the ball cleanly with various surfaces of her stronger right foot, generating good power while maintaining accuracy. She needs to improve her left-footed finishes, particularly first-time shots and volleys. While her first touch is usually okay, she needs to improve control of higher balls. She tends to take longer, less controlled touches when carrying. Without momentum, she struggles to create separation for shooting, making it difficult to beat defenders one-on-one from a standstill. Her short passing is average – she occasionally mishits passes under pressure and shows suboptimal decision-making due to limited awareness and failure to reassess options after receiving the ball. Her longer switches often prove wildly inaccurate.
When facing high and disorganized defensive lines, Martínez frequently strays offside – starting her runs early but sprinting straight forward rather than hooking her run to stay onside. She shows sharp separation when dropping deep to receive passes, with the ability to turn when not closely marked. Her movement in the box to attack crosses remains naive, though she shows flashes of effective double-movement. Defensively, Martínez demonstrates good tactical understanding – making pressing runs with optimal trajectory to funnel the ball into pressing traps. She effectively uses her long legs to intercept passes into midfielders and make tackles. While capable of deep recovery runs when needed, she typically conserves energy for offensive phase.
Claudia Martínez profiles as a wide forward playing off the left or a left striker in a two-striker system for teams that emphasize direct football. Her tactical understanding of pressing schemes makes her ideal for teams playing a mid-block that focus on winning the ball near the middle circle to launch immediate counter-attacks. To excel, she needs teammates who can feed her with through balls behind the last line.
She would benefit from playing in a league that emphasizes verticality and transitions, as well as from competing against quicker defenders to improve her control and finishing in tighter spaces. Her next move should be to a more competitive league in CONMEBOL – either a top team in Chile or a mid-to-upper level team in Argentina or Brazil.
Target Scouting 