Marta Vieira da Silva

Marta
Marta allstar.jpg
Personal information
Full name Marta Vieira da Silva
Date of birth February 19, 1986 (1986-02-19) (age 24)
Place of birth Dois Riachos, Alagoas, Brazil
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club FC Gold Pride
Number 10
Youth career
1999 Centro Sportivo Alagoano
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2000–2002 Vasco da Gama
2002–2004 Santa Cruz
2004–2008 Umeå IK 103 (111)
2009 Los Angeles Sol 19 (10)
2009–2010 → Santos (loan) 14 (26)
2010– FC Gold Pride 14 (11)
National team‡
2002– Brazil 53 (54)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 16, 2010.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of December 20, 2009

Marta Vieira da Silva (born February 19, 1986 in Dois Riachos, Alagoas), commonly known as Marta, is a Brazilian women's football forward currently playing for FC Gold Pride of Women's Professional Soccer. She is also a member of the Brazil women's national football team.

She has been four times awarded FIFA Women's World Player of the Year (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). She was a member of the Brazilian National Teams that won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. She was also named the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (six goals in tournament), in which Brazil finished fourth. In the 2007 Women's World Cup, she won both the Golden Ball award as the best player and the Golden Boot award as the top scorer.

Contents

Personal life

She has three siblings, José, Valdir and Angela. Her parents are Aldário and Tereza. As of 2010, she lives in San Jose and is a competent Swedish speaker.

Club career

Vasco da Gama

Marta was discovered by renowned Brazilian female coach, Helena Pacheco, when she was just 14 years old. Marta went on to play and live at the training facilities for the famous Rio de Janeiro social club, Vasco da Gama, for two years until the club ended its women's professional team in 2001. In 2002 she played for a small club in Minas Gerais that only existed for one season.

Umeå IK

Marta joined Umeå IK before the 2004 season. Umeå reached the final of the UEFA Cup, winning 8-0 against Frankfurt on aggregate. Marta scored three goals during the two-legged game. In the league, however, Umeå finished second, beaten by a single point by Djurgården. Umeå amassed a total of 106 goals in the league, 32 more than the winning team. Marta scored 22 league goals, and also got on the scoresheet at the cup final against Djurgården, which Umeå lost, 2-1.

Marta's second season with Umeå ended in glory as her 21 goals helped Umeå to a convincing league win, not losing a single game during the run. Once again, Djurgården won the cup final against Marta and her teammates by 3-1. Three weeks earlier, Umeå hammered the same team 7-0 in the league.

In 2006, Umeå once again won the league without losing, and Marta, as in 2005, became league top scorer with 21 goals. Umeå cruised to a 11-1 aggregate win over Norwegian side Kolbotn FK in the semifinal of the UEFA Women's Cup, with Marta scoring a brace in both games. For the third time in a row, she was on the losing side when they were defeated 3-2 by Linköpings FC in the Swedish cup final.

In April 2007, Marta failed to lift the UEFA Women's Cup for a third time after Umeå lost 1-0 on aggregate to Arsenal. Marta has finally added a Swedish national cup trophy to her merits after beating AIK 4-3 in a match where she scored a hat-trick, the last one being the winning goal three minutes from time. Umeå won the league, nine points ahead of Djurgården[1], and Marta's 25 goals made her finish one goal behind top scorer Lotta Schelin.[2]

Marta in the 2009 WPS All-Stars match against Umeå IK.

The 2008 season meant another Swedish championship title for Umeå and Marta. After the end of the season, speculations arose about the future of Marta. A couple of months later, on the day of the FIFA World Player of the Year Awards in January 2009, Marta announced that she will play for the American side Los Angeles Sol for the next three years[3]. On demand from Marta Los Angeles also purchase Johanna Frisk from Umeå IK[4], this lead to an accusation from Swedish TV4 sports profile Patrick Ekwall which stated that Marta and Frisk were a homosexual couple[5], however this was strongly denied by the players[6].

Marta's life and football prowess was depicted in the 2005 Swedish Television documentary "Marta - Pelés kusin" ("Marta, cousin of Pelé").

Santos

She signed a three-month loan contract with Santos on August 1, 2009 to play in the Copa Libertadores and in the Copa do Brasil.[7] Marta helped her club win both competitions, and scored a goal in the Libertadores final and two in the Copa do Brasil final.[8][9]

International career

On July 26, 2007, Marta and the Brazilian women's team beat the US U-20 National Team to win the Pan American Games at the famous Estádio do Maracanã in front of a crowd of 68,000. She was compared, by the Brazilian fans, with the great Brazilian player Pelé, being called "Pelé with skirts". Even the great Pelé agreed with the comparison. Marta has stated that Pelé called her to congratulate for the win and that she was extremely happy to hear that one of the greatest ever players followed her team's games.[10] Afterwards the imprint of her feet was recorded in cement at the stadium, the first woman to be so honoured, alongside Brazilian male stars' imprints.

Marta participated in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup with Brazil. Brazil strolled through their group, winning all three games, with Marta scoring a Brace in the first two matches. Brazil won 3-2 over Australia in the quarter-finals on September 23. Marta scored 2-0 from the penalty spot and is now equal with Norway's Ragnhild Guldbrandsen in the World cup top scorer award with 5 goals. On September 27, Marta scored two goals in the semi final of the World Cup as Brazil won 4-0 against the United States, the second goal scored in spectacular fashion. Marta finished the 2007 Women's World Cup as the top individual player, but was unable to win the championship losing to Germany in the final match 2-0 and having a penalty kick blocked by the German keeper which would have tied the match midway through the second half of play.[11] She finished as top scorer and was named best player of the tournament.

Marta also played in the Beijing Olympics 2008 championship, up to the final game which Brazil lost.

Honours

Club

Sweden Umeå IK

United States Los Angeles Sol

Brazil Santos

National Team

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Tabell och resultat - Damallsvenskan" (in Swedish). svenskfotboll.se. Svenska Fotbollförbundet. http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t3damre.aspx?p=1408601&scr=table&ftid=643. Retrieved 2009-01-13. 
  2. ↑ "Skytteliga 2007" (in Swedish). svenskfotboll.se. Svenska Fotbollförbundet. http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t2dam.aspx?p=287911. Retrieved 2009-01-13. 
  3. ↑ Wåhlin, Johan (2009-01-12). "Marta bäst i världen - flyttar till LA" (in Swedish). dn.se. http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=647&a=873009. Retrieved 2009-01-13. 
  4. ↑ "Martas krav till USA: Ta med Frisk" (in Swedish). Fotbollsexpressen.se. 2008-10-23. http://www.fotbollsexpressen.se/Internationell%2Bfotboll/1.1343544/martas-krav-till-usa-ta-med-frisk. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
  5. ↑ "Ekwalls rekord" (in Swedish). Arbetaren.se. 2009-01-02. http://www.arbetaren.se/articles/kultur20090120-4. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
  6. ↑ "Frisk: Vi är inget par" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet.se. 2009-01-13. http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotbollsbladet/sverige/damallsvenskan/article4172741.ab. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 
  7. ↑ Adilson Barros (August 1, 2009). "Peixe anuncia Marta, que deverá receber a camisa 10 das mãos de Pelé" (in Portuguese). GloboEsporte.com. http://globoesporte.globo.com/Esportes/Noticias/Times/Santos/0,,MUL1251318-9874,00-PEIXE+ANUNCIA+MARTA+QUE+DEVERA+RECEBER+A+CAMISA+DAS+MAOS+DE+PELE.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  8. ↑ "'Sereias da Vila' dão show e Santos é campeão da Libertadores" (in Portuguese). iG. October 18, 2009. http://esporte.ig.com.br/futebol/2009/10/18/sereias+da+vila+dao+show+e+santos+e+campeao+da+libertadores+8865945.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  9. ↑ "Santos bate Botucatu e conquista a Copa do Brasil feminina" (in Portuguese). Estadão. December 1, 2009. http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/esportes,santos-bate-botucatu-e-fatura-a-copa-do-brasil-feminina,475189,0.htm. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  10. ↑ GloboEsporte.com > Pan2007 > Futebol Pan2007 - NOTÍCIAS - Pelé diz que Marta é Pelé de saias
  11. ↑ YouTube - Brazil Marta Amazing Goal vs USA (World Cup China)

External links

Preceded by
Birgit Prinz		 FIFA World Player of the Year
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Brazil squad – 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
1 Andréia • 2 Simone • 3 Juliana • 4 Tania • 5 Renata Costa • 6 Michele • 7 Formiga • 8 Rafaela • 9 Kelly • 10 Marta • 11 Cristiane • 12 Giselle • 13 Mônica • 14 Rosana • 15 Renata Diniz • 16 Maycon • 17 Kátia • 18 Daniela • 19 Priscila • 20 Milene • Coach: Goncalves
 Brazil
Brazil squad – 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Runner-Ups
1 Andréia • 2 Elaine • 3 Aline • 4 Tânia • 5 Renata Costa • 6 Rosana • 7 Daniela • 8 Formiga • 9 Maycon • 10 Marta • 11 Cristiane • 12 Bárbara • 13 Mônica • 14 Grazielle • 15 Kátia • 16 Simone • 17 Daiane • 18 Pretinha • 19 Michele • 20 Ester • 21 Thaís • Coach: Barcellos
 Brazil
Brazil squad – 2008 Summer Olympics (Women's Football) - Silver Medal
1 Andréia • 2 Simone • 3 Andréia Rosa • 4 Tânia • 5 Renata Costa • 6 Maycon • 7 Daniela • 8 Formiga • 9 Ester • 10 Marta • 11 Cristiane • 12 Bárbara • 13 Francielle • 14 Pretinha • 15 Fabiana • 16 Érika • 17 Maurine • 18 Rosana • Coach: Barcellos
 Brazil