Brazilian Star Marta Will Reportedly Sign With Orlando Pride

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) may have its biggest signing in history announced in the coming days, and it involves the Orlando Pride. Brazilian international star Marta is reportedly set to sign with the Orlando Pride, per Women’s Soccer Weekly.

WSW’s Michelle Stile writes,

The biggest signing in NWSL history is said to be announced in the coming days as the Orlando Pride nab five-time World FIFA Player of the Year Marta, per sources familiar with the situation. Such a signing is welcome news, as the offseason headlines have featured stars exiting, not entering, the NWSL.

At the moment, there are no details on when exactly Marta will join the club, or how long she will be with the team.

Needless to say, this would be a huge addition to the Pride. The club will be without striker Alex Morgan until June, as she completes her European season with Olympique Lyonnais in France. Marta would provide a consistent scoring threat who can play as a forward or an attacking midfielder.

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As Stile notes above, the 31-year-old, born Marta Vieira da Silva, has won the FIFA World Player of the Year five times in her career. Additionally, Marta is the all-time leading scorer in the FIFA Women’s World Cup with 15 goals.

In 2011, she won a title with the Western New York Flash. Morgan and Orlando goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris were both members of that team.

More recently, the Brazilian has been playing with FC Rosengård in Sweden, scoring 23 goals in 43 appearances. Prior to joining FC Rosengård, Marta played 38 games for Tyresö Fotbollsförening — also in Sweden — where she scored 27 goals from 2012-2014. She scored 10 goals in 14 appearances in 2011 with the champion Western New York Flash in the league known as Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) en route to the league title.

Previously, she played in the United States with the Los Angeles Sol of the WPS in 2009, scoring 10 goals in 19 appearances.

According to Wikipedia (yeah, we know), Marta has scored 105 goals in 101 appearances with the Brazilian Women’s National Team. With her native Brazil, Marta has won the Pan American Games twice (2003, 2007), the Sudamericano Femenino twice (2003, 2010), and was a member of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad that finished second.

Despite being past the age of 30, Marta was recently named to the FIFPro World XI, along with Morgan and Pride defender Ali Krieger.

Update:

The plot thickens…