Dr. Leda Maria da Costa
Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Communication at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), Brazil. She is a researcher at the Laboratory of Media and Sports Studies.
Email: ledamonte@hotmail.com
Site: www.leme.uerj.br
In 2008, when the Brazilian national team won its second consecutive silver medal, Marta was on the podium to receive it. A total of 16 years passed before the team returned to play in an Olympic Games final. Again, came the silver. And once again, Marta took the podium. The year 2024, however, marks the farewell of Queen Marta, as she is commonly called, the Brazilian player with the most successful career in women’s football.
Marta and Brazil’s national team were synonymous for a long time, their names inseparable. This phenomenon largely derives from the power of idols to condense upon themselves the direction of our affections. But in the case of women’s football, the central position Marta holds generated a doubt and a fear: what about when Marta is no longer on the football field?
The national team’s participation in the 2024 Games answered that question: yes, Brazil can play and compete without Marta.
Marta founded her career in the 2000s, a period that, despite the persistence of many obstacles and prejudices, also proved to be of important and had positive transformations, especially in the international scenario of women’s football. In that period, we saw the organization of relevant club competitions—such as the UEFA Women’s Champions League —of which Marta was champion a few times. In 2001, FIFA created the Best Women’s Player award, of which Marta would become a six-time winner. It is in this context that Marta’s football finds conditions to mature her unquestionable talent, to make it globally seen and recognized.
The athlete combined talent and a victorious career, full of titles for the clubs in which she played internationally. As an idol, the player was a fundamental piece in configuring an imaginary of success in national women’s football. Marta’s name and image monopolized the media coverage of the Brazil’s national team, and we were proud have the one who had been elected the best in the world six times.
However, what to do with time? The time that usually passes quickly in athletic life and that already heralded Marta’s retirement. How would it be possible to conceive of a national team without Marta?
The silver medal, an award that few of us honestly expected, did not come from losing to the United States, but from the incredible victories against the powerful France and Spain. In both victories—the two best performances of the Brazilian team in 2024, I believe—Marta was not on the field. Obviously, her absence was felt by many of us used to looking for her, believing that her mere presence could change the course of a match in our favor.
However, when we did not direct our focus to Marta, we observed more closely the performances of Ludmila, Gabi Portilho and the excellent goalkeeper Lorena. Sports coverage has managed to broaden its lens and notice the potential of a generation that has been emerging amidst important actions to make Brazilian football a more receptive environment to the presence of women.
At the organizational level, former player Aline Peregrino stands out. She became director at the São Paulo Football Federation, managing to reinvigorate the championships and teams during her administration. Since 2020, Aline has been the Coordinator of Women’s Competitions at the Brazilian Football Confederation.
We can highlight the performance of fans who through social media and in the stands demand respect and security against harassment. The same type of gesture can be noticed in sports newsrooms in actions such as the manifesto video “Deixa Ela Trabalhar [Let Her Work].” It is noteworthy the emergence of communication channels focused exclusively on news about women’s football, as the Brazilian portal Dibradoras created in 2015.
It is no exaggeration to say that a kind of “football feminism”—or even sports feminism—has arisen in Brazil in the last 10 years, which means that football has been an important arena for debates, visibility and promotion of actions linked to struggles for gender equality, not restricted to sport, but which resonate in society as a whole.
In this process, Marta played an important role in linking her powerful image to progressive agendas, including the announcement of her engagement to Toni Deion Pressley.
Women’s football can and needs to create heroines, as well as evoke the memory of the women at the forefront of women’s football in Brazil who helped pave the way for players like Marta to play and have their abilities recognized.
After all, how many Martas were left by the wayside? How many absolutely talented women have not even managed to continue playing football? I imagine many. Hence the importance of associations committing to women’s football, investing in the basic categories and forming competitive teams to act in strengthened and organized national championships.
Marta was a giant. Her name has been immortalized. To her we are immensely grateful for all these years of commitment to the Brazilian team. Let’s celebrate Marta, but with the hope that women’s football should be a cultivation field for new generations of players, many of whom will play in the expected Women’s World Cup 2027, to be hosted by Brazil.
