For every Lionel Messi, there’s a Marta. The Brazilian superstar has dominated women’s football for over a decade and is among the sport’s most decorated players. She currently turns out for the Florida-based club Orlando Pride, but Marta’s journey has been short of miraculous since she started playing professionally in 2004.
Some of you may remember Marta for those nights at Ballon d’Or ceremonies where she’d make her way through the crowd to win consecutive women’s FIFA Player of the Year awards. She won the award five consecutive times between 2006 and 2010 and another in 2018. She’s the Pele of women’s football.
At 37, age has again shown what it can do to even the best players in football. With a final chance to claim the only title that’s eluded her so far, winning a World Cup with Brazil, Marta has expressed her desire not to play beyond the 2023 Women’s World Cup that kicks off on July 20.
Marta’s Retirement Announcement
Marta was never expected to play football forever. The Brazilian has dominated women’s football since bursting onto the scene with Swedish club Umea IK in 2004. She quickly established herself as a player of the highest quality and was named FIFA Women Player of the Year from 2006 to 2010 in a record-setting run.
Marta confirmed her retirement plans to local media in Brazil yesterday, as reported by ESPN. Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer claimed, “Yes, it will be my last World Cup. We have to understand that a time comes for us to prioritize other things.”
When quizzed further, Marta revealed representing Brazil at the World Cup for the sixth time in her career would be “surreal.” She said, “I just have to be thankful to have lived all those years in the national team. To have the opportunity to go to another World Cup, a sixth one, for me, is something surreal.”
Marta’s Achievements with Brazil National Team
Marta’s achievements with the Brazil national team have been spectacular. She became the first player of any gender to score at five World Cups, a feat that Christine Sinclair and Cristiano Ronaldo would later match. She has also scored at five consecutive Olympic Games, becoming the first female player to do so.
She’s also the first South American to reach 100 international goals before Lionel Messi in March 2023. She currently has 109 international goals, a record that has not been broken yet, above Pele, Neymar, and Ronaldo Nazario.
Does Marta deserve a World Cup win to match her other glorious achievements in women’s football? Put your thoughts down below.
