Widely regarded as the greatest female footballer of all time, Marta has played an important role in changing perceptions of women’s football both in Brazil and internationally.
In Brazil, until 1975, it was forbidden by law for women to play the game. Attitudes contrasted with the women-friendly football cultures of Germany, the USA and Scandinavia, where Marta made her reputation.
Marta had started her career with Vasco Da Gama and later Santa Cruz. However, as Brazil did not have a league system for women’s football, she moved to the Swedish club Umea IK in 2004.
She was the first Brazilian woman to play professionally in Europe and won four consecutive league titles, while also helping Umea win the UEFA Women’s Cup in her first season.
There, she was the best-paid female footballer in the league, earning £3,000 a week and later accrued $500,000 when she moved to Los Angeles Sol in 2009.
Marta came to both the attention of the Brazilian public and a wider international audience with her performance in Brazil’s 4-0 semi-final win over defending champions, USA, at the 2007 World Cup.
One journalist described it as: ‘Perhaps the most stunning performance in a women’s World Cup game ever, transcending to a class of her own while consistently pulling off Johan Cryuff-esque skills and gliding towards goal with ease. Here’s to a player who has been called the 'female Ronaldinho' and the 'female Pelé', but is undeniably a world-class talent’.
In 2011, Newsweek hailed her as ‘Pound for Pound, the Best Football Player in the World’, both male and female.
Marta has won many honours, including FIFA World Player of Year on six occasions (2006-10, 2018). She is also the record scorer at the Women’s World Cup.
As a sign of the acceptance of women’s football in her birthplace, Marta has her footprint imprinted outside the Maracanã, along with the generations of Brazilian legends, from Pelé and Garrincha, to Romário and Ronaldo. In another indication of her wider impact, in 2010, she was named as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, dealing with disadvantaged people and women's rights issues and later a Sustainable Development Goals advocate.
In 2021, Marta is playing in America with Orlando Pride.