📍Dois Riachos, Alagoas, Brazil
1986 – 2000“Marta Vieira da Silva was born in February 1986 in Dois Riachos, a small, dusty town in the dry interior of Alagoas, in north-eastern Brazil, the youngest of four children. Her father left the family when she was about one, and her mother, Tereza, worked as a domestic cleaner to raise the children alone. Money was always short, and Marta grew up in a simple house in a town where everyone knew everyone else's business. She played football in the streets of Dois Riachos from a young age, usually barefoot, often with balls made from plastic bags, and always with the boys, because there were no girls' teams. Many people in the town did not approve of a girl playing football with a load of boys, and her older brothers wanted her to play with dolls instead. At ten she played for the boys' team at her primary school, and in a youth tournament some boys' coaches refused to play against a team with a girl in it. But she was better than all of them, and she never gave up. At fourteen she left home and took a bus to Rio de Janeiro, a journey of nearly three days, to try out for Vasco da Gama's women's team, which signed her. She went on to play in Sweden and the United States, and was named FIFA World Player of the Year six times. She became the all-time top scorer in World Cup history, men or women, and in 2023 a FIFA award for the best goal in women's football was named after her. Dois Riachos is now proud of its most famous daughter, and her footprints are on the Maracanã walk of fame in Rio.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today