Claudia Martinez: Paraguay's teenage goal-scoring sensation set to link up with Trinity Rodman and the Washington Spirit

Born in Capitan Bado, on the border with Brazil, handball was the main sport surrounding Martinez as she grew up, and was one she enjoyed. However, her father, Timeteo, played football and would take his daughter to his matches, helping her to fall in love with a sport she would play with her cousins and the boys at school. Later, she got involved in a five-a-side team and then joined Sportivo Ameliano at the age of 15, when she moved from her hometown to Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital.

It was a move some 400 kilometres south that brought with it plenty of change. In Capitan Bado, for starters, the people speak Guarani and Portuguese. In Asuncion, Martinez would need to work on her Spanish. More exciting for the youngster, though, will have been the greater prevalence of football.

"When I arrived in Asuncion, I saw enormous 11-a-side pitches. It was a lot. I had never played on one before," Martinez told La Nacion last year. "It was something very new, but I adapted quickly."

After a year, she would move to Club Olimpia, the most successful club in the city, and her first involvements with the Paraguay youth national teams would follow. In 2024, she played in the Copa Libertadores and represented her country at both the U17 South American Championship and the U20 Women's World Cup, as those bigger stages started to creep into her promising career.

In 2025, Martinez announced herself to the world. After finishing as the top scorer at the U17 South American Championship in the spring, helping Paraguay to win a women's football title for the first time at any level, the teenage forward carried that momentum into her first-ever major tournament with the senior team, whom she debuted for at the end of 2024.

Starting Paraguay's first game of the tournament against Bolivia, Martinez smashed in a hat-trick in a 4-0 win. Goals against Colombia and Brazil, the two teams who would contest an extraordinary final a few weeks later, would follow, before a late match-winner against Venezuela to conclude the group stage. It wasn't enough to get Paraguay into the semi-finals, but they did make it to the fifth-placed game, where a win over Chile confirmed qualification to the 2027 Pan American Games. 

At the tournament's end, Martinez would enjoy individual glory, too, sharing the Golden Boot with Brazil's Amanda Gutierres while also being named to the Copa America Best XI, aged just 17.

Unsurprisingly, those performances on such a big stage caught the attention of many of the world's top clubs, and it was the Washington Spirit who won the race for her signature, paying a massive $950,000 (£697,000) fee, according to ESPN. That ranks among the 10 most expensive moves in women's football history.

Martinez has signed a three-year contract with the option for an extra year and is set to team up with some of the most electric attackers in the NWSL in her debut season, including United States star Trinity Rodman, who just signed a record-breaking contract to stay with the Spirit.

It's obvious what Martinez's biggest strength is and that is her finishing. That's helped by a powerful strike off her right foot and the fact she can more than adequately use her left, something she does not hesitate to do either. With great movement off the ball that allows her to get into plenty of goal-scoring positions, wonderful speed that makes her a threat in behind and strong technical qualities that mean she doesn't always have to rely on stand-out service from others, Martinez has so many of the traits needed to be an elite goal-scorer at the highest level.

It's also worth noting that the 18-year-old does a lot of impressive work when her team does not have the ball, something that is not always the case with young forwards. She is committed to her role on the defensive side and that is a great indicator of good attitude and character.

We've seen Martinez display those qualities regularly at youth level, and what she achieved at last year's Copa America was outstanding, but the next step for the teenager is to show her quality week-in, week-out in a top league like the NWSL.

It's no surprise that, at 18 years old, Martinez is still quite lightweight and she will need to develop physically in order to challenge the defenders in the U.S. and beyond, and to be more of a threat overall. But these are not worrying faults and are natural ones for a player of her age and experience, the kind of which she can work on over time.

With the variety in her finishing, her agility, ability to use both feet and the wonderful goal-scoring instincts she shows, there is a look of Sam Kerr about Martinez at times. Kerr is much stronger and much more of a handful for opposing defenders in a physical sense, which is no revelation given the difference in age and experience, and the Australian has obvious aerial strengths, too, the kind of which Martinez hasn't quite showcased yet.

However, the teenager has displayed the potential to be a threat in the air and, as with her physicality, that is something she can develop over time.

It's going to be fascinating to see how Martinez fares in the NWSL. The teenager will come into her first year in the league at a slight disadvantage, as she is currently with Paraguay at the U20 CONMEBOL Women's Championship. Having helped her nation reach the final stage of that tournament, Martinez will be away until the final games are played on February 28, too, so will not link up with her Spirit team-mates until less than two weeks before the new season begins.

As a result, it's possible it takes some time for the forward to grow into her first season in the U.S, and then there is the intrigue around just where Martinez fits into what is already a star-studded attack. As well as Rodman, and despite the surprise departure of Croix Bethune, the Spirit have the likes of Nigeria's Gift Monday, Colombia playmaker Leicy Santos, Italian forward Sofia Cantore and Rosemonde Kouassi of the Ivory Coast in their ranks.

It means there is a lot of competition for places, but the flip side is that there will not be huge pressure on Martinez to come in and immediately hit the ground running. All that support should make for an excellent environment for this talented young forward to learn and grow in, in a big year that is likely to see her, despite still being just 18 years old, play a key role in Paraguay's attempts to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup.