Marta's Professional Career Has Humble Beginnings in Belo Horizonte

Athlete played in Belo Horizonte and 2003 and 2004, and at the time she received the minimum salary and shared a house with 6 people

Belo Horizonte

Almost two years after boarding the bus that took her from Dois Riachos (AL), where she was born, to Rio de Janeiro, football player Marta Vieira da Silva found herself without a club to play football. She received the news that Vasco will end its women's team shortly after she finished playing the 2002 U-19 World Cup with the Brazilian national team in Canada.

A teammate, Ludmila, called a coach with whom she had worked in Belo Horizonte and asked the coach to accept "a girl who was featured in the World Cup," but was without anything. On the other end of the phone, coach Vera Lucia was skeptical but agreed to accept the athlete conditionally.

That's how Marta, 33, arrived in Santa Cruz-MG. On the field of beaten earth, she won all the championships that she disputed in the two years she was there.

Marta and her Santa Cruz team - Arquivo pessoal

At the time, Marta lived in the two-bedroom apartment with seven other athletes. Sometimes, if there were a fight between them, she would spend some time at Vera's house. She was also one of the few who received a salary to play - at that time, about R $ 240 (R $ 780 in inflation-adjusted amounts).

During one afternoon a fax arrived at the Santa Cruz headquarters: Marta was called to compete in the 2003 World Cup for the national team. In it, Marta was discovered by Umea of Sweden, and the rest is history. Last Tuesday (18), Marta made her 17th goal in the World Cup. No one scored more than her in Worlds.


Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

Read the article in the original language