Marta: The Life Story Behind the Queen of Football
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Marta is called the Queen of Football, and no one argues with the title. She has been named the best female footballer in the world six times, more than any other player, man or woman. She has scored more goals at World Cups than any player in history, man or woman. She has played at six World Cups and six Olympic Games, and she is still playing at the highest level at forty. She did all of this after growing up poor in a small town in Brazil, playing barefoot with boys who told her that football was not a game for girls.
Marta Vieira da Silva was born on 19 February 1986 in Dois Riachos, a small town in the state of Alagoas in north-eastern Brazil. Dois Riachos is a poor town, and Marta grew up in a house with little money. She played football in the street, barefoot, with a ball made of rags, and she played against boys because there were no girls’ teams. The boys did not want her to play, but she was better than them, and they could not stop her. She learned to dribble past defenders in the dust, and she learned to shoot with power and accuracy, and she learned to never give up.
What makes her story different is how long it has lasted. Most footballers peak in their twenties and retire in their early thirties. Marta has been at the top for more than twenty years, and she is still winning trophies. She won her first league title in the United States in 2024, at the age of thirty-eight, with Orlando Pride, and she won an Olympic silver medal in Paris in the same year. She is a player who refuses to stop, and who refuses to let age decide when her career will end.
This is the story of a girl from Dois Riachos who became the greatest female footballer of all time, and who did it by playing the game the way she learned it in the street: with skill, with joy, and with no fear.
Barefoot in Dois Riachos
Marta Vieira da Silva was born on 19 February 1986 in Dois Riachos, a small town in Alagoas, one of the poorest states in Brazil. She grew up in a family with little money, and her childhood was hard in many ways. She did not have proper football boots, and she did not have a proper ball. She played in the street, barefoot, with a ball made from rags and socks, and she played against boys because there were no girls who played football in her town. The boys laughed at her at first, and they told her that football was a boy’s game. She ignored them, and she kept playing, and soon she was better than all of them.
Her talent was obvious to anyone who watched her. She could dribble past three or four players, she could shoot from distance, and she had a way of moving with the ball that made defenders look foolish. She played with joy, and she played with a freedom that came from the street. She did not learn football in an academy. She learned it in the dust, with no coach and no rules, and that street style stayed with her for her whole career. Even when she was playing in World Cup finals, she still played like the girl from Dois Riachos, with a smile on her face and a ball at her feet.
When she was fourteen, she was spotted by a coach who saw her playing and who believed she could be a professional. She left Dois Riachos and moved to Rio de Janeiro to play for Vasco da Gama, one of Brazil’s famous clubs. It was a huge change. She was a girl from a small town, and she was now living in a big city, far from her family. She was homesick, and she was lonely, but she was also determined. She knew that football was her way out of poverty, and she was not going to waste the chance.
She played for Vasco da Gama, and then for Santa Cruz, and she was soon selected for the Brazilian national team. She made her debut for Brazil when she was a teenager, and she was immediately one of the best players in the team. She was fast, she was skilful, and she scored goals. Brazil had never had a female footballer like her, and the whole country began to take notice. She was not just a good player. She was a phenomenon.
Sweden, the World Cup Final, and Six World Player Awards
In 2004, Marta moved to Sweden to play for Umeå IK, one of the best women’s clubs in Europe. Sweden was a long way from Brazil, and it was cold, and it was dark in winter, but Marta settled in and she became a star. She helped Umeå win the UEFA Women’s Cup, the top club competition in Europe, and she scored goals in every competition she played in. She was the best player in Sweden, and she was becoming the best player in the world.
The 2004 Olympics in Athens were her first Olympic Games, and Brazil won the silver medal, losing to the United States in the final. It was a disappointment, but it showed that Brazil could compete with the best teams in the world. Marta was eighteen, and she was already one of the stars of the tournament. She had arrived on the world stage, and she was not going to leave it.
In 2007, at the World Cup in China, Marta had her greatest tournament. She scored seven goals, she was named the best player of the tournament, and she led Brazil to the final. In the final against Germany, she missed a penalty, and Brazil lost 2-0. It was a heartbreaking defeat, and Marta cried after the match. She had come so close to winning the World Cup, and she had missed the chance. But the tournament had shown the world that she was the best player on the planet, and later that year she was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the first time.
She went on to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award six times: in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and again in 2018. No other player, man or woman, has won the award six times. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have each won it five times. Marta has won it six times. That alone makes her one of the greatest footballers of all time, and it is a record that may never be broken. She won it because she was the most skilful, the most exciting, and the most complete player in the world, year after year.
She also won an Olympic silver medal in Beijing in 2008, losing again to the United States in the final. Brazil had now lost two Olympic finals to the Americans, and Marta had still not won a major title with her country. That would become the great frustration of her career, and it would drive her for the next sixteen years.
America, the Goals Record, and the Long Wait for a Title
After Sweden, Marta played in the United States, for clubs including Los Angeles Sol, FC Gold Pride, and Western New York Flash, and she won league titles and scored goals wherever she went. She also played for Santos in Brazil, and for Tyresö and FC Rosengård in Sweden. She was a footballer who could play anywhere, and who could score goals anywhere. She was also a player who was loved by fans in every country she played in, because she played with joy and because she always gave her best.
In 2019, at the World Cup in France, Marta made history. She scored her seventeenth goal at World Cups, passing the German striker Miroslav Klose, who had scored sixteen goals at men’s World Cups. Marta was now the top scorer in the history of the World Cup, for men and women, and she had done it in five tournaments. It was an extraordinary achievement, and it made headlines around the world. She celebrated by kissing her boot, and by pointing to the sky, and by showing the world that a girl from Dois Riachos could be the greatest goalscorer in the history of the sport.
But the 2019 World Cup also ended in disappointment for Brazil, who were knocked out in the round of sixteen by France. Marta gave an emotional interview after the match, in which she spoke directly to young girls in Brazil and told them to value women’s football, to believe in themselves, and to keep playing. She said that women’s football in Brazil needed more support, and that the next generation had to fight for it. The interview went viral, and it became one of the most famous moments of the tournament. It showed that Marta was not just a player. She was a leader, and she was a voice for women’s football in Brazil.
In 2017, Marta had joined Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States, and she became the captain and the star of the team. For years, Orlando struggled, and they did not win a title. Marta stayed, and she kept working, and she kept believing. She was in her thirties, and many people thought she should retire. She did not. She kept playing, and she kept waiting for her moment.
Paris 2024 and the Orlando Title: A Fairytale Ending
The year 2024 gave Marta the two moments she had been waiting for. First, at the Paris Olympics, she helped Brazil reach the final, winning a silver medal after losing to the United States. It was her third Olympic silver medal, and it was a remarkable achievement for a player who was thirty-eight years old. The tournament was not easy for her. She was sent off in a group match against Spain, and she missed the quarter-final and the semi-final. She returned for the final, and she played with all her heart, but Brazil lost 1-0. She cried after the match, but she had won another Olympic medal, and she had shown that she could still compete with the best in the world.
Then, a few months later, she won her first league title in the United States with Orlando Pride. Orlando won the NWSL Shield for finishing top of the league, and then they won the championship, beating Washington Spirit in the final. Marta scored in the final, and she was the star of the team. It was her first club title in the United States, and it came at the age of thirty-eight, after seven years with the club. She had waited a long time, and she had finally won. The celebrations were emotional, and Marta cried again, this time with joy.
The two medals in 2024 showed that Marta’s career was not over, and that she could still win at the highest level. She had played at six World Cups and six Olympic Games, and she had won three Olympic silver medals. She had never won a World Cup or an Olympic gold medal, and that remains the one gap in her career. But she had won almost everything else, and she had done it for longer than any other player in the history of women’s football.
She has also been honoured off the pitch. She was named a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations, and she has used her fame to speak about gender equality and about the need to support women’s football in Brazil and around the world. She is a hero in Brazil, and she is respected around the world as one of the greatest footballers of all time.
What Marta Means to Football
Marta means everything to women’s football. She is the player who showed that a woman could be as skilful, as exciting, and as brilliant as any man. The great Brazilian player Pelé once called her Pelé with a skirt, a compliment that showed how highly he rated her. She is the player who scored more World Cup goals than anyone in history, man or woman. She is the player who won the FIFA World Player of the Year award six times, more than anyone else. She is, by any measure, the greatest female footballer of all time.
But she means more than that to Brazil. She is a girl from a poor town who became a queen, and she did it by playing football the way she learned it in the street. She showed young girls in Brazil that they could play football, and that they could be great at it. She spoke up for women’s football in Brazil, and she demanded more support for the women’s game. She did not just play. She fought, and she is still fighting.
Her legacy is also about longevity. She has played at the top for more than twenty years, and she is still playing at forty. She has shown that a footballer does not have to retire at thirty, and that age is not a barrier to success. She won a league title at thirty-eight, and she won an Olympic silver medal at thirty-eight, and she did it with the same joy she had as a girl in Dois Riachos. That is a remarkable achievement, and it is one that will inspire footballers for years to come.
Today, Marta is still playing, and she is still scoring goals. She is the Queen of Football, and she will be remembered as such for as long as people play the game. Her story is one of talent, hard work, and a refusal to give up, and it is a story that began barefoot in the dust of Dois Riachos.
The Speech After France 2019
The 2019 World Cup in France ended in disappointment for Brazil, who were knocked out in the round of sixteen by the host nation. Marta had scored her seventeenth World Cup goal in the tournament, becoming the top scorer in the history of the competition, but her team was out, and she was emotional. After the match, she gave an interview that became one of the most famous moments in the history of women’s football, and it is worth remembering in detail.
She spoke directly to the camera, and she spoke to young girls in Brazil. She told them to value women’s football, to believe in themselves, and to keep playing. She said that women’s football in Brazil needed more support, and that the next generation had to fight for it. She said that she and her team-mates had fought for years, and that it was now up to the young players to continue the fight. She was crying as she spoke, and her words were raw and honest. The interview went viral around the world, and it became a rallying cry for women’s football in Brazil.
The speech mattered because it was not just about football. It was about equality, and about the need for girls in Brazil to have the same opportunities as boys. Marta had grown up poor, playing barefoot in the street, and she knew what it was like to be told that football was not for girls. She was telling the next generation not to accept that, and to demand better. She was using her fame to speak for girls who did not have a voice, and she was doing it at a moment when the whole world was watching.
The speech also showed that Marta was more than just a player. She was a leader, and she was a voice for her sport. She had won six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, she had scored more World Cup goals than anyone in history, and she was using her platform to fight for change. That is a legacy that no trophy can match, and it is one of the reasons she is so respected. She did not just play the game. She fought for it, and she is still fighting.
Marta’s time in Sweden with Umeå IK is another part of her story that shows how adaptable she was. She moved to Sweden in 2004, when she was eighteen, and she had to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new style of football. Sweden is cold, and it is dark in winter, and it is a long way from Brazil. Marta settled in, and she became the best player in Sweden. She helped Umeå win the UEFA Women’s Cup, and she scored goals in every competition. She was loved by the fans in Sweden, and she is still remembered there as one of the greatest players to ever play in the country. That willingness to leave home and to challenge herself is a sign of her ambition, and it is one of the reasons she became so great.
She also played for Santos in Brazil, and she won the Copa Libertadores with the club, which is the top club competition in South America. She was a player who could win anywhere, in any country, and in any competition. She was not just a Brazilian player. She was a world player, and she proved it again and again. Her career is a map of women’s football, from Brazil to Sweden to the United States, and she was a star in every place she played.
She also became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, which is a rare honour for a footballer. She used that role to speak about gender equality, and about the need to support women’s football around the world. She visited countries, she met young players, and she spoke about the importance of giving girls the same opportunities as boys. That work matters, because it shows that Marta understands that her fame can be used for good. She did not just play football. She used her platform to make the world better, and she is still doing it today.
Marta also played for the Brazilian national team for more than twenty years, from her debut as a teenager to the Paris Olympics in 2024. That is a remarkable span, and it shows how durable she was. She played in six World Cups and six Olympic Games, and she scored goals in all of them. She was the captain, she was the star, and she was the player that Brazil relied on. She carried the hopes of a whole country on her shoulders for two decades, and she did it with grace and with joy. That is a burden that very few players have ever carried, and Marta carried it brilliantly.
She also became a symbol of Brazilian football, and not just of women’s football. In Brazil, football is a religion, and Marta is one of its saints. She is mentioned in the same breath as Pelé, and she is loved by fans across the country. She showed that a woman could be as great as any man, and that Brazilian football belongs to everyone, not just to men. That is a powerful message, and it is one that has changed Brazilian football forever. Young girls in Brazil now dream of being Marta, just as young boys dream of being Pelé, and that is a sign of how far the sport has come.
My Take:
I think Marta is the footballer I admire most for her joy, because she plays the game the way it was meant to be played. She learned football in the street, barefoot, with a ball made of rags, and she never lost that joy. Even when she was playing in World Cup finals, she still played with a smile on her face. I think that joy is what makes her special. Many footballers lose their joy as they get older, and as the pressure grows. Marta did not. She kept the joy, and she kept playing like the girl from Dois Riachos. That is a rare thing, and it is beautiful to watch.
What strikes me first is where she came from. Dois Riachos is a poor town in one of the poorest states in Brazil. She did not have boots, she did not have a proper ball, and she did not have a girls’ team. She played with boys who told her that football was not for girls, and she was better than all of them. I think about that when I hear people say that a child cannot succeed because they are poor, or because they are a girl, or because they come from a small town. Marta proves that none of those things matter if you have talent and if you refuse to give up. She came from nothing, and she became the Queen of Football. That is an extraordinary story.
The six FIFA World Player of the Year awards are the part of her career that I find most impressive. Six times. No man has won it six times. Cristiano Ronaldo has won it five times. Lionel Messi has won it five times. Marta has won it six times. That is a record that speaks for itself, and it is a record that may never be broken. She won it because she was the best, year after year, and because she was the most exciting player to watch. I think it is a shame that more people do not know about this record, because it is one of the great achievements in the history of football.
I also think about the World Cup goals record, because it is another record that puts her above every male player in history. Seventeen goals at World Cups, more than Miroslav Klose, more than Ronaldo, more than anyone. She scored those goals over five World Cups, and she did it while playing for a Brazilian team that did not always have the support it deserved. That is a remarkable achievement, and it is one that should be celebrated more. When people talk about the greatest goalscorers in World Cup history, they should start with Marta, because she is at the top of the list.
The missed penalty in the 2007 World Cup final is the moment I think about most, because it shows her humanity. She was the best player in the world, and she had led Brazil to the final, and she missed a penalty that could have changed the match. Brazil lost 2-0 to Germany, and Marta cried. I think that moment tells you something important about her. She is not a machine. She is a human being, and she feels pain, and she makes mistakes. But she did not let that mistake define her. She came back, she kept playing, and she kept winning awards. That is resilience, and it is a lesson for anyone who has ever failed at the most important moment.
I think her interview after the 2019 World Cup is one of the most powerful moments in the history of women’s football. Brazil had been knocked out, and Marta spoke directly to young girls in Brazil. She told them to value women’s football, to believe in themselves, and to keep playing. She said that the next generation had to fight for the sport. That interview went viral, and it became a rallying cry for women’s football in Brazil. I think it showed that Marta understood her responsibility. She was not just a player. She was a leader, and she used her voice to speak for the girls who would come after her.
The year 2024 is the part of her story that moves me most. She was thirty-eight years old, and she won an Olympic silver medal in Paris, and she won her first league title in the United States with Orlando Pride. She scored in the final, and she cried with joy. I think that is a fairytale ending, and it is one that she deserved. She had waited so long for a title with Orlando, and she had waited so long for an Olympic medal, and in one year she got both. That is a reward for patience, and for loyalty, and for refusing to give up. Many players would have left Orlando after a few years without a title. Marta stayed, and she won. That loyalty matters, and it is rare in modern football.
I also think about the red card in Paris, because it is a part of her story that is often talked about in a negative way. She was sent off in a group match against Spain, and she missed the quarter-final and the semi-final. Some people said she was too old, and that she had lost her temper. I do not think that is fair. She made a mistake, and she paid for it, and she came back for the final and played with all her heart. That is what a champion does. A champion makes a mistake, accepts the punishment, and comes back stronger. Marta did that, and I respect her for it.
If I had to choose one lesson from her life, it would be this. Play with joy. Marta learned football in the street, and she never lost the joy of the game. She played because she loved it, and she played with a smile, even when the pressure was enormous. That joy is what made her great, and it is what kept her going for more than twenty years. I think many of us lose our joy as we get older, and we forget why we started doing something in the first place. Marta never forgot. She remembered the girl from Dois Riachos, and she played for her, every time she stepped onto the pitch.
In the end, I think Marta’s story is about talent, joy, and longevity. She is the greatest female footballer of all time, she is the top scorer in World Cup history, and she is a player who has inspired millions of girls around the world. She came from nothing, and she became a queen. That is a story that will be told for as long as people play football, and it is a story that deserves to be told.
I also think about the fact that she has played at six World Cups and six Olympic Games, which is a record that may never be broken. Six World Cups is an extraordinary achievement, and it shows how long she has been at the top. She made her debut at the World Cup in 2003, when she was seventeen, and she was still playing at the Olympics in 2024, when she was thirty-eight. That is twenty-one years at the highest level, and it is a career that no other footballer, man or woman, has ever had. I think that longevity is her greatest achievement, even more than the goals and the awards.
There is something else I want to say about her club career, because she played in so many countries. She played in Brazil, in Sweden, and in the United States, and she won titles in all of them. She learned to adapt to different cultures, different languages, and different styles of football, and she succeeded everywhere she went. That adaptability is a rare quality, and it shows how complete a player she is. She was not just a Brazilian player. She was a world player, and she was loved by fans in every country she played in.
I think about Pelé’s compliment, that she was Pelé with a skirt, and I think it is one of the greatest compliments a footballer can receive. Pelé was the greatest male footballer of all time, and he saw in Marta a player who was as skilful, as exciting, and as brilliant as he had been. That is high praise, and it is praise that Marta earned. She is the greatest female footballer of all time, and she is one of the greatest footballers of all time, full stop. I think it is time we stopped saying she is the greatest female player, and started saying she is one of the greatest players, period.
One last thought stays with me. Marta never won the World Cup, and she never won an Olympic gold medal, and that is the one gap in her career. But I do not think that gap defines her. She won six World Player awards, she scored more World Cup goals than anyone in history, and she inspired millions of girls. A trophy does not make a player great. What makes a player great is what they do on the pitch, and what they mean to the people who watch them. Marta is great, with or without a World Cup winners’ medal, and she will be remembered as such.
I also think about the fact that Marta has played professional football for more than twenty years, and that she is still playing at forty. That is a remarkable achievement, and it shows how much she loves the game. Most footballers retire in their early thirties, because their bodies cannot keep up. Marta’s body has kept up, and her love of the game has kept her going. She plays because she loves it, and she plays with the same joy she had as a girl in Dois Riachos. That joy is what makes her special, and it is what has kept her going for so long. I hope she keeps playing for as long as she wants to, because the game is better with her in it.
One more thought stays with me. Marta’s story is about a girl from a poor town who became a queen, and who did it by playing football the way she learned it in the street. She did not learn in an academy. She learned in the dust, with a ball made of rags, and she never forgot that. She plays with joy, she plays with skill, and she plays with no fear. That is a lesson for anyone who thinks you need money or fancy facilities to succeed. You do not. You need talent, you need hard work, and you need joy. Marta had all three, and she became the greatest female footballer of all time.
I also think about the fact that Marta’s six World Player awards may never be beaten, because no other player has won the award six times. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two greatest male players of their generation, each won it five times. Marta won it six times. That is a record that puts her above every male player in history, and it is one that should be celebrated more. When people talk about the greatest footballers of all time, they should start with Marta, because she has won the game’s biggest individual award more times than anyone else.
I also think about the fact that Marta’s career is a story of joy, and that joy is what has kept her going for more than twenty years. She plays because she loves the game, and she plays with a smile, even when the pressure is enormous. That joy is infectious, and it is one of the reasons fans love her. She reminds us that football should be fun, and that the best players are the ones who enjoy it most. I hope young players remember that, and I hope they never lose their joy, just as Marta never lost hers.
I also think about the fact that Marta’s story will be told for as long as people play football, because she is the greatest female player of all time. She came from a poor town, she played barefoot in the street, and she became a queen. That is a story that inspires everyone who hears it, and it is one that will never be forgotten. She is the Queen of Football, and she will always be the queen, no matter what happens next in her career.
I also think about the fact that Marta’s six World Player awards may never be beaten, because no other player, man or woman, has won the award six times. That is a record that puts her above every male player in history, and it is one that should be celebrated more. She is the greatest female footballer of all time, and she is one of the greatest footballers of all time, full stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was Marta born and how did she start playing football?
Marta was born on 19 February 1986 in Dois Riachos, a small town in Alagoas, Brazil. She grew up poor and played barefoot in the street with boys, using a ball made of rags, because there were no girls’ teams in her town.
How many times did Marta win the FIFA World Player of the Year award?
Marta won the FIFA World Player of the Year award six times, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2018, which is more than any other player, man or woman, in the history of the award.
How many goals has Marta scored at World Cups?
Marta has scored 17 goals at FIFA World Cups, which makes her the top scorer in the history of the tournament for both men and women. She passed the previous record of 16 goals held by the German striker Miroslav Klose at the 2019 World Cup in France.
Did Marta ever win the World Cup or the Olympics?
Marta has never won the World Cup or an Olympic gold medal, despite playing in six World Cups and six Olympic Games. She won Olympic silver medals in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and Paris 2024, and she reached the World Cup final in 2007, losing to Germany.
What did Marta win with Orlando Pride in 2024?
In 2024, at the age of thirty-eight, Marta helped Orlando Pride win the NWSL Shield for finishing top of the league and then the NWSL championship, scoring in the final. It was her first league title in the United States after seven years with the club.
What happened to Marta at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
At Paris 2024, Marta was sent off in a group match against Spain and missed the quarter-final and semi-final, but she returned for the final against the United States. Brazil lost 1-0 and took the silver medal, which was Marta’s third Olympic silver.
