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Five and a half years ago, Julian Ucles Martinez wasn’t sure how to proceed. In his native Spain, it is not easy to find a job as a young person. The youth unemployment rate there is one of the highest among the member states of the European Union. Ucles Martinez had studied history in Barcelona for a few months, then moved back to his small village in southern Spain. But working there did not work. But he still had his footballing talent. And so the Spaniard sat in the plane to Germany in the summer of 2015 without a return ticket.
about Instagram Shortly before, he had contact with a former teammate who was playing for CSV Bochum-Linden at the time. He liked it pretty much in the Ruhr area. The two of them were on the phone – and Ucles Martinez suddenly found Plan C. Football gave him the chance to earn a little pocket money, the prospect of an apartment and a job.
He is now 26 years old, plays in the Westfalenliga for SV Wacker Obercastrop and speaks fluent German. Only now and then does he have to look up non-everyday vocabulary. For example now. “Emergency exit!” He says. That was exactly the word he was looking for to describe his life situation from five and a half years ago and the way to Germany. And now? “Everything I have in life I owe to football,” said Julian Ucles Martinez.
Missed jump to the pros
“You said we were good, but not better than the players who were at FC Barcelona”
This also includes the friendship with Yogan H. Cordero Astacio (27). The two, who play together in Obercastrop today, got to know each other when they were still children. Back then in Huéscar, the small Andalusian village in the province of Granada. Cordero Astacio comes from Venezuela, emigrated to Spain at the age of ten and was actually only visiting Granada. While training at the local soccer club, he met Ucles Martinez.
Both are united by their footballing talent. They stood out early on and were allowed to play in regional national teams, where the talent scouts of the big clubs take a close look from the edge of the field. This is how FC Barcelona became aware of the duo. They were allowed to audition there for a week, the famous academy “La Masia” beckoned, through which half of the Spanish world championship team from 2010 and superstars like Lionel Messi went. “It was all so big and professional there,” Ucles Martinez remembers of the training week. “We didn’t know anything like that from our village.”
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In the end, however, it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the youth team. “You said we were good, but not better than the players who were at FC Barcelona.” Nevertheless, both came under the youth of the then second division Real Murcia and played in the highest junior class.
A year and a half later, they parted ways. Ucles Martinez played in the youth of CD Santa Fe and later in the amateur field for CF Gava. “My dad drove me 160 kilometers each way to Santa Fe three times a week,” says Ucles Martinez. “I’m so grateful for that, I wouldn’t have played football for so long without him.” In between he paused to finish school. Cordero Astacio also failed to make the leap to the professionals.
Now they play in the Westphalia League. “Another funny story,” says Ucles Martinez. His friend visited him in Germany at the beginning of 2019. They couldn’t spend much time together because Ucles Martinez had to work. “That’s why I asked our coaches if I could bring him to training.” He was allowed to, and the Venezuelan promptly convinced. He also stayed in Castrop-Rauxel and has been plowing Wacker’s outside track ever since.
Corona compulsory break in Spain
The differences to Spanish football? “Good question,” says Ucles Martinez. “I would say it’s the number of contacts with the ball. You have to split up quickly here, you move forward immediately. In Spain we prefer possession football.”
The duo is spending the forced Corona break with their families in Spain. Ucles Martinez is on short-time work and was given permission to travel home: “That was really very nice of my boss.” At the end of January they actually wanted to go back to Germany, but because of Corona nobody is allowed to leave the village. He doesn’t know where football will take him. “I’m just looking forward to having a few beers with the guys again soon after the game,” said Ucles Martinez. “And before that we hopefully got the three points.”
