Marta (footballer)

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Vieira and the second or paternal family name is da Silva.
Marta
Marta with the Orlando Pride in 2024
Personal information
Full name Marta Vieira da Silva[1]
Date of birth (1986-02-19) 19 February 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth Dois Riachos, Alagoas, Brazil
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Orlando Pride
Number 10
Youth career
1999 CSA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2002 Vasco da Gama 16 (4)
2002–2004 Santa Cruz 38 (16)
2004–2008 Umeå IK 103 (111)
2009 Los Angeles Sol 19 (10)
2009–2010 → Santos (loan) 14 (26)
2010 Gold Pride 24 (19)
2011 Santos 12 (13)
2011 Western New York Flash 14 (10)
2012–2014 Tyresö 38 (27)
2014–2017 Rosengård 43 (23)
2017– Orlando Pride 118 (40)
International career‡
2002 Brazil U19
2002–2024 Brazil 204 (119)
Medal record
Women's football
Representing  Brazil
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing
Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2003 Santo Domingo
Gold medal – first place 2007 Rio de Janeiro
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 November 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 August 2024

Marta Vieira da Silva (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmaʁtɐ viˈejɾa dɐ ˈsiwva]; born 19 February 1986), known mononymously as Marta, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and formerly, the Brazil national team. Marta is widely regarded as the greatest female footballer of all time.[2][3][4][5][6] She has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive (from 2006 through 2010) and the latest award coming in 2018.

Marta holds the record for being Brazil's top goalscorer with 119 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup, women’s or men's.[7][8] Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five different World Cups,[9] a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022,[10] and also the first footballer, female or male, to score at five consecutive Olympic Games.[11] She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won the silver medal at the 2004, 2008 and 2024 Summer Olympics. She was also awarded the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and won both the Golden Ball award as the best player and the Golden Boot award as the top scorer in the 2007 Women's World Cup after leading Brazil to the final of the tournament.

At the club level, Marta won the UEFA Women's Cup at Swedish club Umeå IK in 2004 and won seven Swedish league championships during her time playing for various teams in the country.

In January 2013, she was named one of the six Ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, alongside Amarildo, Bebeto, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldo and Mario Zagallo.[12] She also appeared in the Sveriges Television television documentary series The Other Sport from 2013. In August 2016, Marta was one of the eight to carry the Olympic Flag in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a Sustainable Development Goals advocate.

In 2017, Marta received Swedish citizenship and now has dual citizenship in both Brazil and Sweden.[13]

  1. ^ a b "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 – List of Players: Brazil" (PDF). FIFA. 6 July 2015. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  2. ^ Grez, Matias (1 August 2023). "'I want to be like Marta': How Brazil's all-time record goalscorer became the greatest of all time and an 'icon' in her country". CNN. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  3. ^ "The 20 greatest female football players of all time". The Guardian. 3 August 2016.
  4. ^ "10 Best Female Footballers of All Time". 27 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Women's World Cup 2015: who is Marta, who is the greatest footballers of all time, Marta, Matildas - Fox Sports". www.foxsports.com.au.
  6. ^ Panja, Tariq (8 June 2015). "Best-Ever Female Player Marta Misses Soccer's Millions". Bloomberg.
  7. ^ "Marta: Brazil great makes history with 17th World Cup goal". CNN. 18 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Marta scores record 17th World Cup goal as Brazil advance to knockouts". France 24. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Women's World Cup: Marta has record to rival Brazil legends Ronaldo and Pele". BBC Sport. 13 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Christine Sinclair: Canada striker beats all-time record". BBC Sport. 30 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Olympics: Soccer - Brazil's Marta scores in fifth Games running, Britain beat Chile". Reuters. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  12. ^ FIFA.com. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009.
  13. ^ "Nu är världens genom tiderna bästa fotbollsspelare svensk medborgare". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). 14 March 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2023.