The Our Futbol Podcast is proud to be collaborating with FUTBO13RA® to bring readers coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games – Women’s Soccer Tournament. You can download the FUTBO13RA® Guide: Paris 2024 PDF here.
occer will always be linked to Brazil. The joga bonito mentality, joy and self-confidence will forever have an excellent relationship with Amazonian soccer. As far as the Olympics go, with two silver medals under their belt (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), the Brazilian squad has not missed an event of this type since Atlanta 1996.
And although Brazilian soccer isn’t necessarily living its best moment right now, there will always be a demand to live up to the myth that surrounds Verde Amarela.
There is no doubt that the premature exit from the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 hurt a lot. In fact, not having passed the group stage cost Pia Sundhage her job and opened the doors for Arthur Elias, who took over as technical director of the Brazilian team in August 2023.
“Analyzing our rivals (in the Olympic Games) and the current performance, I think we fell with the strongest teams […], but that will not influence the start of the competition,” the Brazilian head coach shared with the Brazilian Football Confederation.
Elias left the Corinthians women’s side after having won four league titles (2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022) and three Copa Libertadores (2017, 2019 and 2021).
However, Elias’ career has been linked to women’s soccer for a long time. In 2006, he took part in an academic project to search for talent in small Brazilian communities and had the opportunity to learn about the reality of women’s soccer in that country. From that moment on he was committed to the development of women’s sports in general.
The biggest challenge for Elias will be to change the mentality to strengthen the emotional side of his team and overcome the burden of recent fallouts. To paraphrase Elias’ own words, the mental aspect will be fundamental to be able to bring back that winning culture to the Brazilian landscape.
Captain: Marta Vieira da Silva
“This is my last year and I can confirm it now. There is a day when we have to understand that the time has come,” Marta shared with CNN Brazil. “I am calm because I see with great optimism the development that is taking place regarding the birth of new athletes.”
Anyone who enjoys sports, especially soccer, will know that Marta’s name is forever printed in golden letters within history books. Born in Dois Riachos, Brazil in 1986, Marta Vieira da Silva grew up in an environment that viewed women who had even the slightest association with soccer in a bad light. That type of mentality continued well into Marta’s upbringing despite the fact that in 1979 the mandate prohibiting women from participating in soccer in Brazil had altogether disappeared.
But still, against all legal, cultural and even familial odds, Marta joined Vasco de Gama at the age of 14. The talent that she demonstrated at her young age was enough to show that life was in for the emergence of an unprecedented star. At only 17 years old, her performance for the Rio de Janeiro team was the springboard for her to be called up to the 2003 Women’s World Cup in the United States.
After the World Cup, Marta’s successful international career began with the Swedish league team Umeå IK. There, Marta managed to win the league in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, including the cup in 2007. At the intercontinental level, she lifted the UEFA Women’s Cup (now European Champions League) in the 2003-04 season and was a runner-up in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
There are few trophies that Marta hasn’t lifted. Her honors include a Copa Libertadores title and the Women’s Brazilian Cup with Santos F.C. in 2009. Before officially becoming the NWSL in 2012, the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States was known as the WPS, whose championship was also won by Marta in 2010 with FC Gold Pride and in 2011 with the Western New York Flash. In Sweden, she won the league with Tyresö FF in 2012 and with FC Rosengård in 2015.
In the same way that Marta has stood out with her club teams, she has won three Copa América titles with her national team in 2003, 2010 and 2018; two gold medals at the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games; two Olympic silver medals in 2004 and 2008; and a runner-up in the Women’s World Cup in 2007.
There is no doubt that we are in the presence of a figure unlike any other. And beyond the fact that the individual awards given by FIFA always spark a debate regarding their legitimacy, it is no coincidence that Marta has also been named Player of the Year in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2018 (and was runner-up in 2016).
Thanks to her inexhaustible scoring record, Marta has been recognized as the best in her position in the Swedish league in 2004, 2005 and 2008; in the American league in 2009, 2010 and 2011; and in the 2007 World Cup in China. Her 17 World Cup goals make her the all-time leading goalscorer in FIFA Women’s World Cups, an incredible record that only becomes more impressive when one realizes that it spans across five different World Cup tournaments.
Her name not only holds value on the pitch but her social commitment away from the pitch has led the United Nations to award her the title of Goodwill Ambassador of the UN Women program since 2018, helping promote equality and in the sporting world.
For one final time, Marta will lead Brazil into the Olympic Games and will battle it out for international glory. Coming off the second place finish they got against the United States in the 2024 W Gold Cup will have to be the motivation Brazil needs to return to the Olympus of world football.
What time does Brazil play at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games?
Brazil’s Match Schedule in Group C
Thursday, July 25
Nigeria vs. Brazil | 10:00 AM PST | 11:00 PM CDMX | 12:00 PM CST | 1:00 PM EST | Stade de Bordeaux
Sunday, July 28
Brazil vs. Japan | 8:00 AM PST | 9:00 AM CDMX | 10:00 AM CST | 11:00 AM EST | Parc des Princes
Wednesday, July 31
Brazil vs. Spain | 8:00 AM PST | 9:00 AM CDMX | 10:00 AM CST | 11:00 AM EST | Stade de Bordeaux
This has been edited from its original version which can be found on the Futbo13ra website here.
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