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Six-time world player of the year Marta has re-signed with the Orlando Pride through the 2026 season, just over a month after captaining the team to its first NWSL Championship.
Marta was one of the most high-profile NWSL free agents this offseason. She said repeatedly in November that she hopes to play for two more seasons.
She has played for Orlando since 2017.
Marta turns 39 years old next month and enjoyed her best season in 2024 since her inaugural year with the Pride, scoring 11 goals across all competitions as the Pride won the NWSL Shield and the NWSL Championship. Orlando began the 2024 season unbeaten through the first 23 games.
“This is a team where everybody works for each other, where everyone believes in each other, and I’m so excited to continue this journey with this club,” Marta said in a statement. “Last year we proved everyone wrong and did something so special, as a team, and that’s why I’m so happy to have the opportunity to sign for two more years. Personally, it also means a lot to me that I will reach 10 seasons as an Orlando Pride player, a special number for me as I have worn the No. 10 jersey most of my career.”
Marta scored in both the quarterfinal and the semifinal on the Pride’s run to a championship. Her game-winning goal in the semifinal against the Kansas City Current drew global headlines and was reminiscent of her iconic 2007 World Cup semifinal goal against the United States.
Last year, Marta’s rejuvenated form put her back into the picture as a major player for Brazil on the team’s run to an Olympic silver medal. Brazil lost the Olympic final to the United States for the third time – marking the third silver medal for both the team and Marta.
In November, at the NWSL Championship, Marta demurred the challenge of playing long enough to compete in the 2027 World Cup on home soil in Brazil. She said she would continue to make herself available for selection for Brazil, but she was no longer playing club soccer just to get a call-up from Brazil. She will be 41 when the competition begins.
“When I say I don’t want to play 2027, I don’t want to have this responsibility to play in the club to be in the national team,” Marta said prior to November’s NWSL Championship. “I’ve been doing [that] for 20, 21 years in my life. I’m feeling like it’s time to just enjoy a little bit more. Be in the club but don’t have this responsibility to be in the national team, too. But like I said, if they need me, I’m here.
“But I’m not going to the game to think I need to do good here to be in the national team. I’m not doing this anymore. I play with a different mind in my head now. I play to do my best in the club and live day by day. I don’t want to have this pressure anymore on my back. That’s why for me, now it’s different.”
Two days later, she secured Orlando’s first NWSL title and her first domestic championship in the U.S. since 2011, when she triumphed in a now-defunct league.
She returns to an Orlando team expected to keep together its core, including star striker Barbra Banda.
“Coming off the most successful season in our club’s history and, personally, one of the best of her professional career, re-signing Marta was a key business priority for us during this offseason,” Orlando Pride VP of sporting operations and sporting director Haley Carter said in a statement.
“The impact she has made on our team, our locker room and our community is evident, of course through her incredible skill as a player, but even more so through her selfless and exemplary leadership style. We are thrilled to have secured her as a member of the Pride for the next two years and look forward to seeing what more we will accomplish during her tenure.”
From @martavieiras10, with love pic.twitter.com/fNB3BH9iPs
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) January 9, 2025
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