Marta enters NWSL Championship at peace knowing 'best league in world' is in better shape than she found it

When discussing women's soccer legends, there is often one name that even your favorite soccer player mentions -- Marta. The Brazilian icon has played with Orlando Pride for nearly a decade and will suit up for her first and potentially final appearance in an NWSL Championship on Saturday night against the Washington Spirit. The most influential athlete in women's soccer, six times named the best women's player in the world while having played in six Olympics and six FIFA Women's World Cups, ranks Saturday's final as the biggest match of her historic career. 

You can catch the NWSL Championship Saturday at 8 p.m. ET only on CBS and Paramount+.

Getting to this point in her career, however, hasn't been all fun, joy, and passion -- all staples of a Marta personality that teammates and opposing players have used to describe her. For eight years with Orlando, there have been tough seasons, losing ones, with rotation coaches and players that have come and gone. The downward moments can be difficult, full of endless questions of what comes next, and for Marta, the Pride of 2024 are built differently. 

"No matter what happens in the final, this season, for me and for the team, has been the best season so far. Orlando never had played a consistent game as we have done in this season from beginning to end," Marta told CBS as she began to hold back tears.

"It's crazy sometimes to find an explanation, like 'How?' I think for me, it's special because it's the answer that I try to find every single year because from 2017, I am the only player that is still on the team. I ask myself 'Why? Why am I still looking to do something special here, you know?' Eight years. In my life, there was always something crazy. The first time I won [FIFA World Player of the Year], of course, I was much younger than I am now, but I did it for five times [in a row], then took a break and won it after eight years. It's been eight years here with Orlando, and it's the first time that we go to a final. It's a coincidence, but I don't know. It's some answer for me, for myself. Why am I still here? Why am I looking to build something special for this team? I don't know if I'm going to be here next year, but I'm already so happy with what I have given to the club and the players."

Marta's beginnings

Marta's legacy is a starting point for many in the game. Despite a long history of women's soccer, the stories are often limited, underserved, and untold. 

Her journey is so significant because it is reflective of experiences outside of the American women's soccer landscape. There was no youth academy pipeline or a pay-to-play system like in the United States for her to participate in. She has been vocal over her career that in Latib=n American culture, young girls playing the game was not typically encouraged. 

From leaving Brazil's favelas as a young teenager, o playing in Sweden at 17 years old, her story begins and goes places that most Americans aren't privy to. Her arrival to the United States predates the NWSL -- a marquee player that signed with Women's Professional Soccer and won multiple individual accolades and championships. 

But the NWSL's predecessor was already a second attempt to have a women's pro soccer league in America. Similarly to the WUSA, it struggled to maintain consistent monetary investment from its former owners, and as teams that Marta played on folded, she was moved from team to team. After the WPS folded completely in 2012, she returned to Sweden and wouldn't play club soccer again in the United States till 2017. 

Changing the league one international at a time

Her arrival to the NWSL was welcomed with enthusiasm but also with questions about the timing, a player entering what is typically the tail end of one's career. She smacked all those narratives and more when she aided the Pride with their first appearance in the NWSL Playoffs. Marta's immediate impact helped further open the door for more internationals in the league and it's reflected on the Pride's current roster. 

"I think it's so positive for women's soccer. Obviously, if you're looking for a challenge … you need to play with the best players. I feel like year by year playing in America, [the] players just want to come and be here because for me this is the best league in the world. It's a strong league, with very good teams and there is no other place better than this [league] to prepare you to play big championship games like the World Cup. It's nice to see so many good players here," she said.

During Marta's time in Orlando, many Brazilians have played for the club. Monica and Camila were her first Brazilian teammates she played with, then Poliana, and later Thais. In 2023, head coach Seb Hines and general manager Haley Carter signed Adriana and Rafaelle, and now headed into the 2024 NWSL Championship, there are five Brazilians on the roster. It's just another part of how Marta has found success on the field this year.

"It's so comfortable to have them around because it makes my job a little easier, especially with the [way we] communicate in training and in the Game. It also makes me proud, because like I say, many players want to come and play here in America," she said.

"I think they're starting to understand that to [reach] a high level in this game, you need to be [playing] with players that make you feel like you're in competition all the time so you feel the need to prove yourself every single day, every single training, every single game. It's nice to have them here and I also feel like it's a really positive for the [Brazilian] national team too, because they're playing with and against players that they're supposed to be playing in big tournaments."

A lasting legacy

There is no question that the Pride of 2024 are built differently from previous seasons. They've already achieved milestones never reached in club History -- a league-record unbeaten streak, tied for most wins in a single season, and the 2024 NWSL Shield winners, awarded to the team with the best points total across the regular season. 

Despite those accolades, Marta's impact on the game in the United States stretches across two attempts at women's pro soccer. This time, the NWSL has found itself embracing the efforts and technicality of its internationals. The 2024 NWSL MVP is Malawian international Temwa Chawinga. The Pride's leading scorer, Banda, is a Zambian international and NWSL Golden Boot runner-up. More Brazilian teammates play across the league, including Ludmila with Chicago Stars FC, North Carolina's Kerolin, and Debinha and Bia Zaneratto with Kansas City Current.

Marta's believes their presence has helped shift the league from a heavy emphasis on transitional play to more technical adaptability with exponential growth on the horizon.

"One hundred percent. Every single team has at least one or two players with this kind of skill set. I talk about Orlando because it's the team I've been with for like eight years. We have players that we know what they can do with the ball, they're so intense all the time, trying to do the simple things, and then we have players that can enjoy the game and sometimes forget about what the coach is saying [in order to improvise] because the situation asks for it. You need to have the feeling when I can do this on my own and when I need to play with my teammates and make something interesting for the team. Every single team in the league has players like that [now]," Marta said.