Brazil legend Marta announces international retirement 🇧🇷 | OneFootball

Brazil legend Marta has announced she will retire from international football following this summer’s Olympic Games.

“If I go to the Olympics, I will enjoy every moment, because regardless of whether I go to the Olympics or not, this is my last year with the national team,” the 38-year-old told CNN Esportes in an interview set to air this weekend.

“There is a moment when we have to understand that the time has come. I am very calm about this, because I see with great optimism this development that we are having in relation to young athletes,” she added.

A six-time World Player of the Year, Marta is Brazil’s all-time record goalscorer and has won two Olympic silver medals, as well as winning the Pan American Games twice and the Sudamericano Femenino three times.

She is also top scorer for Brazil at the World Cup with 17 goals to her name at the tournament, and the veteran Orlando Pride striker says she will retire full of optimism for the future of the Verde-Amarela.

“We have a very qualified team, with very talented girls and, over the years, you will see that it really is what I am talking about, it is a very fertile ground,” she added.

“For that reason, I feel very comfortable saying, ‘Look, I’m passing it on to you, I’m going to pass the baton, and you continue to carry on this legacy.'”