Marta made the 2007 Pan-American Games her own. As well as collecting a gold medal, she finished as top scorer with 12 goals, and was voted player of the tournament.

Marta made the 2007 Pan-American Games her own. As well as collecting a gold medal, she finished as top scorer with 12 goals, and was voted player of the tournament.

Straight after the 5-0 victory over the USA in the final of the 2007 Pan-American Games, with her gold medal around her neck, Marta became the first woman in history to set foot on the Maracanã’s famous Walk of Fame.

In her first ever game at Rio’s famous Maracanã, Marta was just a goal short of equalling a stadium record, when she scored five goals for Brazil in a 7-0 thrashing of Canada during the group stages of the 2007 Pan-American Games. Dida (1958) and Zico (1979) each scored six goals in one game.

Marta’s life story has already been told on the silver screen, in a Swedish documentary called Marta - Pelé's Cousin.

According to website womensworldfootball.com, Marta is the second highest-paid woman footballer in the world, earning around US $55,000 per month in wages and sponsorship deals.

Marta agrees that her style of play can at times make her look like a female version of Ronaldinho, while she says she also has Ronaldo moments.

Marta says that she doesn’t have any football idols, but admits that she used to like watching Rivaldo play.

Marta was short-listed for the FIFA World Player of the Year awards three years running. After coming third in 2004, and second in 2005 (Germany’s Birgit Prinz took the top prize on both occasions), she was voted number one in 2006, at the age of 20. She received 475 points, beating the USA’s Kristine Lilly (388) and Germany’s Renate Lingor (305).

By strange coincidence, Sweden, where Marta’s football career has really taken off, was also the country that introduced the world to the creative genius of a 17-year old by the name of Pelé, when Brazil won the 1958 World Cup.

Marta has been at Umeå IK in Sweden, since 2004. They signed her when she was just 18. In her first three seasons she scored 63 goals.

During her childhood, the boys she played with use too knock her about during street games. They couldn’t take the fact that a girl was able to dribbled past them so easily!

In spite of being born in the town of Dois Riachos in Alagoas, Marta is an avid supporter of São Paulo club Corinthians.

Marta did not have an easy start in football. To get to Vasco, her first club, she had to travel over 1,500km, which took her three days by bus. The Vasco coach was so impressed with her dribbling skills and ball control that the club signed her up, covered all her expenses and paid for her to lodge with family friends in Rio de Janeiro.