PROFILE: Marta Vieira da Silva:The bizarre aspect of her circumstances is that, despite dominating the sport for the last five years, Marta is currently without a club or contract. KEITH DUGGANprofiles the Brazilian superstar

‘IT’S HARDER for women” may sound like a refrain plucked from the back catalogue of Tammy Wynette, but it also sums up the situation of the best footballer in the world who half the world doesn’t know about.

When Lionel Messi accepted the Ballon D’Or in Zurich earlier this month, he was pictured beside Brazil’s Marta Vieira da Silva, who once again was voted the Women’s World Player of the Year.

Most of the media carried photographs of Messi the next day, with da Silva’s profile largely confined to Fifa’s web page.

It was there, after expressing her general delight, she mused on the difference between men’s football, which has never been as super-saturated in terms of profile or money, and women’s football, which remains – after several false dawns – something of an underground pursuit.

“It means a lot, especially because it’s harder for women,” she said after accepting her award for a record fifth consecutive year.

“The men earn a lot of money and they have a lot of clubs they can choose to play for.

“We work very hard, but we are always thinking about what might happen next year, if there’s going to be a team or a competition even.

“That’s what makes this an honour and a source of pride. The trophy isn’t just for me. It’s dedicated to women’s football as a whole.”

The bizarre aspect of Marta’s circumstances (like many Brazilian sports stars, she goes by her first name), is that, despite dominating her sport for the last five years, she is currently without a club or contract.

Her fortunes in recent years mirror the uncertain foundations of women’s football in general.

In 2009, she left what had been a spectacular streak with the Swedish club Umea IK, for whom she scored 111 goals in 103 games over four seasons, to take part in the revamped Women’s Professional Soccer league in the US.

In signing for the Los Angeles Sol, Marta was unquestionably the star turn of the league.

The Sol played in a modest stadium with just 6,000 seats, they sold well and reached the championship game in their first season. Then their sponsors pulled out and the club folded. In 2010, Marta was signed by FC Pride in San Francisco and scored 19 goals in 24 games, claiming the Golden Boot award, helping the club to their championship title.

But the Pride folded anyway, leaving the Brazilian without a club. There is no doubt she will be playing when the new season resumes, but the bigger struggle involves the desperate scramble for clubs to raise the money to sustain themselves.

It is a far cry from the famous women’s World Cup hosted by the US in 1999, when 90,000 people attended the final between the hosts and China in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

A further 40 million watched on television, and the image of Brandi Chastain celebrating her tournament-winning penalty kick was ubiquitous that year.

The success and popularity of that tournament seemed to announce the women’s game had swept America in a way the men’s game never could.

At the Sydney Olympics the following year, the interest and profile of the women’s football event enjoyed an incredibly high profile, buoyed by the presence of players like Mia Hamm and Chastain, who had become familiar faces on the television network circuit.

In 2000, Marta da Silva was 14 and starting out on her sporting life.

Her story is one of fearlessness. She grew up in the small town of Dois Riachos, where it was not all that common for girls to kick a football.

“Some boys accepted it. Some boys didn’t,” she said in a New York Times interview two years ago. “And my family had comments to make to them! Brazil is still a very macho society and sport is mainly for boys, so people would say to them: ‘what is she doing?’ ”

Through relatives, she heard about a football academy in Rio which reserved places for girls. The bus journey from Dois Riachos to Rio took three full days, and when she had arrived she had just one day to exhibit her skills.

Da Silva is 5ft 4in, light and quicksilver.

Even now, footage of her technical ability is scandalously rare, but in a few highlight films she demonstrates the uncanny balance and ball control her male counterparts like Messi and Zinedine Zidane exhibit: time and time again, opponents close in to tackle her only to find themselves confronting nothing but air as she spins away in a different direction.

After confirming her talent in front of Brazil’s esteemed female coach Helene Pacheo, Marta signed on for Vasco de Gama, until the club cut its women’s team in 2001.

The following season she signed for Minas Gerais: it folded at the end of that season. At the same time, the Women’s US Soccer Association (WUSA) had been founded in a blaze of expectation and publicity.

It crashed after three seasons of failing to generate either anticipated advertising or television ratings and faced with debts of $100 million.

Marta’s four seasons in Europe must have been the most settled of her adult life, but the prospect of playing in the revamped women’s league in America was irresistible.

Her latest award was recognition of her consistent excellence, and she has also been acknowledged in Brazil; by the age of 23, she had left her footprint in concrete outside the Estadio de Maracana alongside Pele’s.

In fact, the one blemish in her football career was distinctly Brazilian: she missed a penalty against Germany in the women’s World Cup final of 2007.

The same year she was asked by UN Goodwill Ambassadors Zidane and Ronaldo to play in the UNDP’s Match Against Poverty in Morocco: it was the first time a female player had participated in an internationally sanctioned men’s football match. Last autumn, she was invited to join the UN Goodwill Ambassadors programme.

But she remains something of a vagabond. It is odd that, of all sports, a game which enjoys such global reverence as football should struggle to establish any sort of solid foundation for its best female participants.

Many of the less powerful sports have succeeded in establishing a more obvious stage for its female practitioners.

But Marta’s search for a football game continues. While her immediate club prospects remain vague, she will showcase her talents in Europe in July playing with Brazil in the World Cup finals in Germany.

It’s just a pity more football fans won’t get to see her play.

Marta Vieira da Silva

Nickname:Pele in a skirt, Zeferina.

Date of birth:February 19th, 1986.

Place of Birth:Dois Riachos, Alagoas State.

Height: 5ft 4in (1.63m).

Boot size:38.

Current club:None.

Position:Forward.

Titles

Vasco da Gama

Under-19 Brazil Championship 2001.

Umea IK

Swedish champions: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Swedish Cup winner: 2007.

Uefa Women’s Cup: 2003–04.

Santos

Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Femenino: 2009. Copa do Brasil de Futebol Femenino: 2009.

Brazil national team

Pan American Games: gold medal 2003 and 2007. South American Championship 2003. World Cup finalist 2007. South American Championship finalist 2006.

Olympic Games: silver medal 2004 and 2008

Individual honours

Fifa World Player of the Year – Winner (5): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. Runner-up: 2005.

Fifa Women’s World Player: 2006, 2007, 2008. Runner-up: 2005.

Fifa Golden Ball, 2007.

Fifa Golden Shoe, 2007.

Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Femenino Golden Ball: 2009.

Damallsvenskan Top Scorer (4): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008.

Damallsvenskan Best Forward of the Year: 2007, 2008.

Under-20 World Cup Golden Ball: 2004.

Fifa Women’s World Cup Golden Ball: 2007

Fifa Women’s World Cup Golden Shoe: 2007

Women’s Professional Soccer MVP: 2009, 2010.

Women’s Professional Soccer Golden Boot: 2009, 2010.

Women’s Professional Soccer Championship MVP: 2010.

Sudamericano Femenino top-scorer: 2010.