bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Andrew Cesare Richardson

Marta, Brazil’s all-time top goal scorer, announced she will retire from international football at the end of the year.
The six-time Fifa World Player of the Year has made 175 appearances for the Selecao and scored 116 times.
Now 38, she made her international debut in 2002 but announced her Brazil career will end after 22 years.
“If I go to the Olympics [in Paris], I will enjoy every moment because, independent of whether I go or not, this will be my last year with the national team,” she told CNN Brasil.
“There will be no more Marta for the Brazil national team from 2025, I can confirm this.”

Often regarded as the best women’s footballer ever, Marta is a pioneer in the sport and dominated the game in terms of personal awards in the late 2000s.
She won five World Player of the Year awards in a row from 2006 to 2010, finishing on the podium in five of the next six years before winning it again in 2018.
Despite dominating the game on a personal level, the biggest honours on the international stage have so often eluded her with a golden period in the mid-to-late-2000s leading so several heartbreaking defeats.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Brazil were agonisingly beaten 2-1 after extra time by the United States in the gold medal match, with Marta netting three along the way.
Then, three years later, they reached the World Cup final in China for the first – and so far only – time, but lost 2-0 to Germany in Shanghai.
Marta, who won the Golden Ball, Golden Boot and scored the Goal of the Tournament, netted a brace which saw them at least exact revenge against the US with a thumping 4-0 win in the semi-finals.
At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Marta and Co. again reached the gold medal match with a trilogy against the US and again it was the Americans who broke Brazilian hearts with a 1-0 victory in extra time.
In 2016, there was extra pressure with the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but Brazil lost in the semi-finals in a penalty shoot-out to Sweden, despite Marta netting her spot kick – and then went down 2-1 to Canada in the bronze medal match.
In 2023, Brazil suffered a shock as they crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage, as a tearful Marta told reporters after the match than “not even in my worst nightmares was it the World Cup I dreamed of”, as the realisation she would never grace that stage again hit home.
Marta is the only woman to score at five World Cup finals and at five consecutive Olympic Games – and could yet make it six in Paris.
At club level, she won the Uefa Women’s Cup – a forerunner to the Uefa Women’s Champions League – in 2004 with Swedish side Umea IK and the Copa Libertadores Femenino in 2009 while at Santos.
Since 2017, she has been in the National Women’s Soccer League in the US with Orlando Pride.


Taiwan Olympic boxing champion Lin Yu-ting quits event after gender eligibility questions

Olympic champ Zheng, Hong Kong’s Haughey on strength, sacrifice and a winning mentality

Two months on, a Summer Olympics high turns into winter blues for Paris

Ridicule over Olympic performance too much for breaker Gunn, who says she’s retiring

Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Olympics: Brazil legend, all-time top scorer Marta to retire from international football after Paris games

Brazil legend Marta will retire from international football at the end of the year. Photo: AP

Marta, right, shows her disappointment after defeat to German in the 2007 World Cup final in Shanghai. Photo: AP

Hong Kong FA intervene in young talent’s BN(O) visa tangle, Tsang hoping for resolution to career crisis in England

Ellison Tsang is currently unable to play football in England because of eligibility issues. Photo: Xinhua

The talented Tsang emerged from Kitchee’s academy but his progress has stalled in Manchester. Photo: Kitchee

From footballer to Buddhist monk: Swedish ex-player’s incredible transformation detailed on his Instagram page

Kevin Lidin’s incredible transformation from footballer to Buddhist monk. Photo: Instagram/kevin_lidin

Sport

Football

Six-time World Player of the Year and first player to score at five straight Olympic Games and World Cup finals
Twice Olympic silver medallist, including in Beijing, she has 116 goals in 175 appearances for Selecao


Six-time World Player of the Year, considered one of the greatest women’s footballers in game’s history and was twice Olympic silver medallist – including in Beijing.


Fifa Women's World Cup

Olympics: Brazil legend, all-time top scorer Marta to retire from international football after Paris games

Six-time World Player of the Year and first player to score at five straight Olympic Games and World Cup finals Twice Olympic silver medallist, including in Beijing, she has 116 goals in 175 appearances for Selecao

Six-time World Player of the Year and first player to score at five straight Olympic Games and World Cup finals

Twice Olympic silver medallist, including in Beijing, she has 116 goals in 175 appearances for Selecao