Marta, the Brazilian women’s soccer star, has tested positive for coronavirus, according to CBC Sports on Saturday. As a result, Marta will not play for Brazil in two upcoming women’s friendly games against Ecuador on November 27 and December 1.
Marta, who is 34-years-old, has been the face of Brazilian soccer over the last two decades. The star forward has had 108 goals in 154 games for the Brazilian national team in women’s soccer since 2002.
Marta’s 108 international goals ranks her eighth all-time. She is only behind Christine Sinclair of Canada (186 goals), American Abby Wambach of Rochester, NY (184 goals), American Mia Hamm of Selma, AL (158 goals), American Kristine Lilly of New York City, NY (130 goals), Germany’s Birgit Prinz (128 goals), American Carli Lloyd of Delran Township, NJ (123 goals), Julie Fleeting of Scotland (116 goals). Of the players on the list among the top eight, only Marta, Sinclair and Lloyd are active.
Marta also holds the record for the most goals at the FIFA Women’s World Cup with 17. Just how meaningful has Marta been to the Brazilian national women’s soccer team over the years? She has scored more than 25% of Brazil’s goals in the history of the Women’s World Cup.
Arguably, the most memorable game Marta has ever played came in the semi-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Hangzhou, China. Marta scored twice as Brazil stunned the United States 4-0.
Over the last three years, Marta has played with the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League. She is currently dating American defender Toni Pressley, who also plays for the Pride. Over the past year, Pressley has been battling breast cancer.
Brazil has the third most cases of coronavirus in the world with 6,087, 608. Only the United States at 12, 740, 664 cases and India, at 9,177, 641 cases have more cases than Brazil. There have also been 169, 485 coronavirus deaths in Brazil. Only the United States has more fatalities (263, 504).
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