Marta Vieira da Silva (born 19 February 1986), known as Marta ([ˈmaʁtɐ]), is a Brazilian-Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Brazil national team. Marta is often regarded as the greatest female footballer of all time. She has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive (from 2006 through 2010) and the latest award coming in 2018.
Marta holds the record for being Brazil's top goalscorer with 115 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup, women’s or men's. Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five different World Cups, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first footballer, female or male, to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won the silver medal at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She was also awarded the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and won both the Golden Ball award as the best player and the Golden Boot award as the top scorer in the 2007 Women's World Cup after leading Brazil to the final of the tournament.
At the club level, Marta won the UEFA Women's Cup at Swedish club Umeå IK in 2004 and won seven Swedish league championships during her time playing for various teams in the country.
In January 2013, she was named one of the six Ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, alongside Amarildo, Bebeto, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldo and Mario Zagallo. She also appeared in the Sveriges Television television documentary series The Other Sport from 2013. In August 2016, Marta was one of the eight to carry the Olympic Flag in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a Sustainable Development Goals advocate.
In 2017, Marta received Swedish citizenship and now has double citizenship in both Brazil and Sweden.
