Football
Brazil women's football team star to play her final match against India
Brazil women's team veteran midfielder Formiga is set to hang her boots from international football playing against India
Brazil women's team veteran midfielder Formiga is set to hang up her boots from international football. She's going to play her final match for Brazil against India on 25th November 2021 in the four-nation tournament held in Brazil, featuring Chile and Venezuela too. The pride of Brazil, Miraildes Maciel Mota commonly known as Formiga is the most capped player in Brazil's footballing history. With an international career spanning nearly 26 years, she has also featured in 7 world cups and Olympics, making her the only player till now to have featured in seven FIFA World Cups and Olympic Women's football tournaments.
Miraildes Maciel Mota was born in Salvador, Brazil on 3rd March 1978, a time when women were banned from playing football, under a 1941 act that got removed in 1979. Mota is commonly called Formiga meaning "ant" in Brazilian. She started her senior footballing career with Sao Paulo aged only 15 in 1993. She then made her international debut in 1995 aged 17, playing 233 matches for them till now. Formiga played a lot of footballs for teams in the United States and Sweden. She got her big European move to PSG in 2017 and played there till 2021 before returning to Sao Paulo once again, where her journey as a Footballer began. She is expected to retire from football at the end of this season with the Brazilian team.
Coming to her major honors for her country, Formiga has a total of 6 gold medals in the South American Women's Football Championship, winning the tournament in 1995, 1998, 2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018. She has also won a bronze and a silver medal at the FIFA Women's World Cup, 1999 and 2007 respectively. The Brazilian veteran does have two Olympic silver medals to her name, winning them in 2004 and 2008.
However, after a glorious international career, Formiga is set to don the yellow and green for the last time ever on 25th November, against the blue tigresses. The four-nation tournament featuring Brazil, Chile, Venezuela and India will kick start from November 25th in the city of Manaus.
