Brazil legend Marta says she will retire from international football this year.
The 38-year-old forward holds the record as Brazil’s all-time top scorer across both men’s and women’s football.
Should she be chosen for Brazil’s team this summer in Paris, Marta could make her sixth appearance at an Olympic Games.
“If I go to the Olympics, I will enjoy every moment, because, regardless of whether I go to the Olympics or not, this is my last year with the national team,” she told CNN in Brazil.
“There will be no more Marta from 2025 in the national team as an athlete.”
She earned Olympic silver medals at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, where Brazil faced defeats against the United States.
Marta holds the record for the most goals scored in World Cups, across both men’s and women’s tournaments, with 17 goals in 23 matches spanning six editions.
In 2007, Brazil finished as runners-up to Germany, marking Marta’s closest brush with World Cup victory.
Following Brazil’s failure to advance beyond the group stage in the last World Cup, Marta declared, “there is no more World Cup for Marta.”
Having played for Orlando Pride since 2017 in club football, Marta expressed her readiness to pass the torch to Brazil’s emerging generation of footballers.
“We have a really qualified team with really talented girls who, as the years go by, you will see what I’m talking about,” she said.
“Because of this I feel very comfortable saying: ‘Listen, I’m passing on to you, I’m going to pass on the baton and you continue to carry on this legacy’.”