Marta, Brazilian footballer
Marta Vieira da Silva (born 19 February 1986), commonly known as Marta ([ˈmaɾtɐ]), is a Brazilian footballer with both Brazilian and Swedish citizenship, who plays for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League and the Brazil national team as a forward. She holds the record for being Brazil's top international goalscorer of either gender, with 115 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup tournament (women's or men's). Moreover, she is the first footballer of any gender to score at five World Cup editions, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019, and also the first female footballer to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. At a 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.
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. 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.
In January 2013, she was named as 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. The SDG are 17 global goals set with hopes of making the world a better place, and 17 advocates were appointed to help accomplish it.