Shekiera Martinez: The story so far

After two years with West Ham United, the forward will make the switch to north London upon the opening of the summer transfer window following the announcement of her permanent move on Friday.

Only 24 years old, the Germany international has racked up an impressive 178 appearances during spells in Germany and England, scoring 64 goals, and has recently earned her first senior call-up to the Germany national squad.

A player very familiar to supporters in the WSL after her impressive run of form in the competition, scoring 10 goals in 12 appearances in her first four months, we look at her journey to becoming a Lilywhite…

Growing up in Germany

Born in Fulda, a city that sits on the river Fulda in Hesse, Germany, Shekiera was one of four girls and a boy in her family and having watched her older sister to play football, she told her parents at the age of eight that she wanted to start playing football.

Beginning her footballing journey with SV Glaserzell, she then joined FV Horas before making her move to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2016 as a 16-year-old.

Featuring regularly for their Under-17 side in her first season, she went on to spend the first half of the 2017/18 campaign with their reserves side before stepping up to the senior squad in the closing stages of the season, making four appearances in total.

Representing Germany at FIFA Women’s World Cup Under-17 Finals in the summer of 2018, she featured in all five of her nation’s games in the competition and wrote her name into a UEFA Finals record book.

Scoring an impressive nine goals in total, Shekiera equalled the record number of goals in a UEFA Final tournament jointly held by Michel Platini at Euro 84 and Elena Danilova at 2005 Women’s Under-19 Euro.

Finding the back of the net six times in the group stage before scoring a hat-trick in the semi-final win over England, she was unable to add to her tally in the final as Germany were defeated 2-0 by Spain.

Stamping her mark in the Bundesliga

With her maiden campaign in Germany’s top flight under her belt, the energetic forward then scored her maiden goal in a 3-3 draw with Potsdam in February, 2019, and stole the headlines in April, where she netted her first senior hat-trick in a thumping 9-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach.

Shekiera would then represent Germany at another international youth competition in the summer, this time at the UEFA Women’s Under-19 European Championships, where she made four appearances in the tournament, scoring once in the semi-final win over the Netherlands, before losing in the showpiece event to France.

Still only 19 years old, she continued to be a regular member of the Eintracht squad in the Bundesliga. She made 20 appearances in the 2019/20 campaign, scoring five times, and a further 13 games the next term, netting two goals – but most of these coming off the substitutes bench.

However, that changed in 2021/22, when Shekiera started in 12 of her 20 appearances in the German top flight, scoring five goals and registering four assists, to help her side finish third in table and secure qualification to the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time since 2016.

Champions League exposure

Shekiera made her debut in the prestigious competition in their qualifying round win over Fortuna Hjorring to progress to the next qualification stage, but Eintracht suffered defeat to Ajax – which goalkeeper Lize Kop started in – and saw their journey come to an end.

However, they didn’t have to wait long to compete in the competition again, as another third-place finish ensured Eintracht secured their spot in the European competition once again.

Having overcome Slovacko, Juventus and Sparta Prague in the qualifying rounds this time, in which Shekiera featured in three of the four games, Frankfurt reached the group stage phase for the first time in seven years.

She netted her first goal in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in a 5-0 win over Rosengard in January, 2024, as they finished third in their group and were unable to progress any further.

After eight seasons with Eintracht, where she made over a century of appearances, she made the switch to England to join West Ham United but immediately joined German side SC Freiburg on loan for the first half of the 2024/25 campaign, scoring five goals in 11 league matches.

Women’s Super League bound

Having accumulated the necessary points to meet the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) criteria for international players visas, she returned to England in January, 2025, and made an immediate impact for the Hammers.

Opening her WSL account on her first start against Everton, she then scored a brace away at Chelsea and won back-to-back Player of the Month awards in March and April – where she scored four goals in a 7-1 win over Crystal Palace – to become the first West Ham player to win the accolade.

Ending the campaign with 10 goals in 12 league appearances, a goal every 89 minutes, to finish as the joint-second in the goalscoring charts, she was named the WSL’s 2024/25 Rising Star.

In her first full season in England last term, Shekiera opened her account in the Subway Women’s League group phase against Charlton Athletic in September, 2025 and featured in 26 matches in all competitions, finding the back of the net on 10 occasions, where she also won the league’s Goal of the Month award for a stunning bicycle-kick at Manchester United in December. 

Her impressive form in England’s top tier earned a first senior international call-up for Germany in October and, a month later, she made her debut in the UEFA Women’s Nations League final against Spain. Shekiera has since earned a further three caps for her nation to date.