Brazilian star
June 28, 2011
Even though she is just 25 years old, Marta Vieira da Silva can already look back on an amazing career. Not only has she won FIFA's top individual prize five years running, she's also consistently led club teams around the world to national titles with her exceptional goal-scoring talent. At the last World Cup in 2007 in China, Marta won both the Golden Ball as the top individual player and the Golden Boot as the competition's top scorer with seven goals.
The powerful striker, who currently plays club football in the USA with Western New York Flash, has already made it clear to her team that the time has come for Brazil to win the title. “We really want to win it, it's a title that we've had in our hands in the past but didn't win because of small details," said Marta to news agency AFP. "For a long time now, we have shown we have a wealth of talent in our ranks. We've reached two Olympics finals and one World Cup final. Now, the time has come to win.”
A whistlestop career
At the tender age of 14, Marta left her home town of Dois Riachos in north-eastern Brazil to follow her dream of becoming a professional soccer player. She joined one of the country's most exclusive clubs, Vasco da Gama, where she played until 2001. In 2002 she transferred to one of Europe's top women's clubs, Umea IK in Sweden.
Following the move to Europe, it didn't take long for international success to come. In 2004 Marta won the Golden Ball as the top player of the under-20 Women's World Cup. At Umea IK she picked up both national and European titles as well.
Since then Marta has become a key part of the Brazilian team and wears the coveted number 10 jersey. In 69 games for her country Marta has scored a dazzling 79 goals. She is the only woman to have left her footprints in the walk of fame at Rio de Janeiro's famous Maracana stadium.
Marta begins her campaign for the title on Wednesday, when the Brazilian team plays Australia in Mönchengladbach.
Author: Mariana Santos, Julia Maas / al
Editor: Michael Lawton