Battle of Backbone Mountain

Marta Vieira da Silva (born 19 February 1986), known as Marta ([ˈmaʁtɐ]), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Brazil national team. 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.

Marta holds the record for being Brazil's top goalscorer with 116 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup, women’s or men's. Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five different World Cups, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first footballer, female or male, to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. 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. (Full article...)

Credit: Agência Brasil

Read more

• ... that the Togo women's national football team participated in the 2007 Tournoi de Cinq Nations in Ouagadougou but was disqualified after the first match for sending a club team? (2 May 2012)
• ... that Netherlands Antilles women's national football team faces development challenges because football is only the sixth most popular sport in the country? (26 May 2012)
• ... that despite having few registered women players and their team never playing a FIFA-recognised match, Burundi has an under-20 women's national team? (7 May 2012)
• ... that Ellyse Perry played both cricket and soccer for Australia at the age of sixteen? (20 February 2008)
• ... that the female footballer Bilgin Defterli decided to go to Germany because she saw no chance to play football in Turkey due to the dissolution of women's football leagues in 2003? (19 December 2013)
• ... that the Brunei women's national football team is forbidden from participating in the Olympic Games by its country's government? (23 June 2012)

• ... that despite being the first women's football team in Northern Ireland to sign players on professional contracts, Cliftonville Ladies F.C. were not the first club to register them?
• ... that the 2012 Olympic women's soccer semifinal between the Canadian and the American national teams was called "the greatest knockout match in major-tournament football" since 1982?
• ... that horses were responsible for delaying the deciding match of the Barcelona women's football team's 1973 winning season?
• ... that the Nike Phantom Luna football boot considers women's anatomy and the playing style of women's football in its design?
• ... that English women's footballer Shameeka Fishley scored a hat-trick in her newly-established Turkish team's first match?
• ... that in 2012, French women's football club Arras FCF were promoted to the country's top division and reached the semi-finals of the French Cup?

The Gambia women's national football team (recognized at The Gambia by FIFA) represents the Gambia in international women's football. It is governed by the Gambia Football Federation. As of December 2019, it has only competed in one major international competition, the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualification. The Gambia has two youth teams, an under-17 side that has competed in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers, and an under-19 side that withdrew from regional qualifiers for an under-19 World Cup. The development of a national team faces challenges similar to those across Africa, although the national football association has four staff members focusing on women's football. (Full article...)