Marta, Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer, said she is unsure on her availability for the 2027 Women’s World Cup due to her desire to become a mother. Brazil hosts the women’s competition for the first time in history in 2027, by which point six-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Marta will be aged 41. Advertisement The Orlando Pride forward announced her international retirement after the 2024 Olympic Games, but in May, was named in Brazil’s squad for friendlies against Japan and Jamaica. She said both fitness and her decision over whether to have a child will dictate whether she will appear in a seventh consecutive World Cup.
In an interview with on Sunday, Marta said: “I don’t know whether I’ll still be playing in 2027 or whether I’ll be fit. It’s too early to say that I’m definitely going to play. I still have a very strong desire to be a mother. “So, I might wake up one day and decide to call my doctor to see if it’s still possible. If it is, then bye, I have to go.” Marta, who most recently played 85 minutes in Brazil’s 3-2 friendly defeat to France, became the first player in world football to score in five World Cups during the 2019 tournament, having made her competition debut in 2003. The feat has only been matched by two other players: Christine Sinclair and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Marta’s legacy is defiance, hunger and joy. But how will it end at the Olympics?
Marta will go down as one of the greatest to ever play. Her international career comes to an end in the Olympic final against the U.S.
Brazil’s women’s team have never won a World Cup, coming closest in their 2007 final defeat to Germany. Marta’s contract at NWSL club Orlando Pride expires in 2026, and with the World Cup set to take place a year later, she said the team are targeting the 2026 Copa America Femenina, Brazil winning six of the tournament’s last seven editions. “Brazil is the favourite, and we know it,” Marta said. “We know our responsibility to bring home the title. But it’s no use just being the favourite if you don’t perform and make things happen on the pitch.” Brazil’s last World Cup appearance, in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, saw them exit at the group stages with four points in their three matches. Marta played in all three matches but did not register a goal or assist. (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
