Starts: 35
Minutes: 3,148
Age: 30
Key Stat: 1,860 passes completed per FBref.com, most of any NYCFC player in 2025.
Thiago Martins had another solid year anchoring a New York City FC defense that improved on their collective 2024 performance.
The 30-year-old Brazilian center-back made 36 appearances in all competitions. He once again eclipsed 30 games played for New York City as he’s done in his previous seasons in MLS, despite again missing time in 2025 after needing midseason surgery to address a knee issue.
Injuries and age might be the only real questions around Thiago’s game, because his play was once again high-level in 2025 and he’ll return in 2026 expected to once again be a big piece of the puzzle at the back for Pascal Jansen.
Slow start
The biggest hiccup of the 2025 season for Thiago Martins was starting the year injured. He picked up a calf injury early in preseason training and was slow to be match-fit, not starting his first game for Pascal Jansen until Matchday 3, the home-opener win over Orlando City SC at Yankee Stadium.
Thiago didn’t look his best in the early matches he played this season. He scored an own goal in his second start of the season at home against New England, though NYCFC rallied back to earn a 2-1 win. Two weeks later, he struggled and had a costly mix-up with goalkeeper Matt Freese as New York City conceded four times and lost to an Atlanta United FC team that would finish 28th out of 30 MLS teams in the Supporters’ Shield table.
These were the low points, because after the Atlanta loss, NYCFC wouldn’t concede in bunches like that very often for the rest of the long season. Thiago hit midseason form and Jansen found the right defensive combination to smooth out issues the team had keeping out the goals.
Perfect pairing
The defensive improvement had plenty to do with Thiago Martins finding his form, and also some to do with the right chemistry forming between Thiago and his most frequent partner in defense this season, Justin Haak.
The ideal left-center-back partner for right-center-back Thiago Martins turned out to be, unconventionally, a right-footed defensive midfielder. Not Birk Risa, a natural left-footer who fell out of favor with Pascal Jansen and was on his way back to Norway by midsummer. Instead it was Haak who grabbed hold of his place as an out-and-out central defender who had the liberty to at times step up and play more advanced in the midfield.
The defensive duo of Thiago Martins and Haak worked wonders for New York City this season. Thiago ranked 9th among all MLS center-backs in goals added (g+), the advanced metric meant to measure a player’s complete on-ball contributions developed by American Soccer Analysis. Haak, for his part, ranked 13th among CBs in that same metric – so New York City can say that the stats show they had one of the league’s best center-back pairings of the season.
Still central to New York City’s success
He’s not a bruising physical defender, but Thiago Martins remains extremely good at closing down space thanks to his elite speed, was one of the league’s leaders in defensive clearances (196, 6th-most in MLS), and was also one of the league’s leaders in progressive passing distance (14,786 yards, 5th-most in MLS) and in touches of the ball (2,438, 7th-most in MLS).
Thiago’s poise in possession and his passing are what set him apart from his center-back peers. He’s an accurate long- and medium-distance passer who also is frequently on the ball and spraying it around when New York City are in possession and building out of the back.
His individual attributes shined in games like the 1-0 away win over FC Cincinnati, and in both wins over the Red Bulls. In fact, in 2025 Thiago did something he’d never done with New York City FC in his first three seasons: He scored a goal in the regular season, and it was a game-winner against the Red Bulls on the road, for good measure.
The 2025 season ended with one of Thiago Martins’s worst performances of the season in the Eastern Conference Final loss to Inter Miami CF, but he was joined in his struggles in that game by plenty of teammates, a rare rough showing the NYCFC defense, though against a stacked Miami attack making an unstoppable run to MLS Cup.
It wasn’t a perfect season in 2025 but it was another season in which you could consistently call Thiago Martins one of the top center-backs in MLS. His on-ball abilities, chemistry with the rest of the team’s defenders, and leadership qualities as team captain all continue to make him a critical New York City FC contributor heading into 2026, but for how many more seasons will that hold true? The club exercised Thiago’s contract option for 2026, but that’s the final year of his current contract with the team.
Thiago Martins remains as important as ever for NYCFC and in 2026 will play his fifth season in New York City, the most years he’ll have spent with any of the five clubs for which he’s played professionally. He’s had ups and downs throughout his tenure, but continues to succeed while serving as the bedrock of that backline.
Such a key component of our defense and a captain too. Everyone has a bad day sometimes (Atlanta away), but he wears the badge proudly and sticks up for it. Love Thiago Martins!
Signing Martins as a DP felt like such a head scratcher at the time that it’s taken me awhile to appreciate what he brings to the team. This year he really cemented his role, and it was most evident when he wasn’t in the 11 or was subbed early and things inevitably fell apart on the defense. He’s become such a rock for us. Now if they could just buy him down to free up that DP slot…