West Ham United women’s team attacker Shekiera Martinez has won the Barclays Women’s Super League Rising Star award at the Women’s Professional Game Awards.
Our No19, who signed for the Club last summer, has been outstanding since returning to Chadwell Heath in January after spending the first half of the season on loan at SC Freiburg.
Scoring ten goals in 12 WSL appearances, the 23-year-old has certainly made her mark in England’s top flight, having bagged back-to-back WSL Player of the Month awards in the process, becoming the first Hammer to win the accolade.
“I’m so proud to have won the Rising Star award,” said Martinez, who pipped Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones, Liverpool’s Olivia Smith, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Kiko Seike and Michelle Agyemang, Manchester United’s Grace Clinton and Tottenham Hotspur’s Ella Morris to the prize.
“This award means a lot to me and I can’t thank everyone at West Ham enough for their support since I joined the Club last summer.
“It feels like a bit of a whirlwind since I returned from my loan in January but I am so grateful for everything that has happened since. I have loved every second of it!
“This Club feels like a family and I want to keep working hard, scoring more goals and helping the team to keep moving forwards.”
Martinez got her West Ham career up and running with a goal against Everton on her first WSL start, before finding the net against Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal.
She then scored two goals away at Chelsea, helping the women’s team come from two goals down to pick up a momentous late point at Kingsmeadow, ahead of netting four goals in West Ham’s 7-1 rout over Crystal Palace.
Most recently, the Germany U23 international was on target in our final home match of the season against Aston Villa, helping her finish joint-third in the WSL top-scoring charts.
Everyone at West Ham United would like to congratulate Shekiera on winning the Rising Star award!
