Lyle Martin
American soccer player
Lyle Martin (born March 25, 1985) is an American soccer player.
Career
College and amateur
Martin made his debut in the football field in 2004, and played college soccer at California State University, Bakersfield, appearing in 79 career games and scoring 29 goals. In his senior year, he earned the 2006 California Collegiate Athletic Association goal-scoring title with 17 goals in 19 matches, which paved the way for him to become the second most single-season goals in school history.
During his college years he also played for Bakersfield Brigade of the USL Premier Development League, scoring five goals in 10 games in his rookie season in 2005, and playing in 16 matches and scoring nine goals in 2006.
Professional
Martin was drafted by Chivas USA in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft, but signed instead with the Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL First Division. In his first season, in Vancouver he earned 19 starts in 24 games and played 1,657 minutes, and was honored with the Whitecaps Newcomer of the Year award. On October 12, 2008, he helped the Whitecaps capture their second USL First Division championship, beating the Puerto Rico Islanders 2–1.
On December 18, 2008, the Whitecaps announced the contract extensions of Martin and Wesley Charles for the 2009 season.
Martin was released by the Whitecaps at the end of the 2009 season.
Martin moved to China with his former teammate Charles Gbeke and signed a contract with Chinese Super League side Shaanxi Chanba in February 2010.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lyle Martin” is american soccer player. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lyle, Martin and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american soccer player” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6707936. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 2004, 2006 and 2005.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lyle Martin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.