Formiga (footballer, born 1978)
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Miraildes Maciel Mota[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 3 March 1978 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Salvador, Bahia, Brazil[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 162 cm (5 ft 4 in)[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | São Paulo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1993–1997 | São Paulo | 111 | (54) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1998 | Portuguesa | 30 | (12) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1999 | São Paulo | 43 | (6) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2000–2001 | Santa Isabel | 21 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2002 | Santos | 43 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2003 | Independente | 36 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004–2005 | Malmö FF Dam | 28 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2006 | New Jersey Wildcats | 12 | (13) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2007 | Jersey Sky Blue | 6 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2007 | Saad | 27 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2008 | Botucatu | 27 | (4) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2009 | FC Gold Pride | 16 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2010 | Chicago Red Stars | 23 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2011– 2017 | São José | 186 | (35) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2017–2021 | Paris Saint-Germain | 68 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2021 | São Paulo | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1995–2021 | Brazil | 234[4][5][6] | (29) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Honours
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 November 2021 |
Miraildes Maciel Mota (born 3 March 1978), commonly known as Formiga (Portuguese: ant), is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder for São Paulo FC. She previously played for professional clubs in Sweden, the United States and France. Formiga holds many international records as a member of the Brazil women's national football team, being the only player present in all Olympic Games tournaments of women's football since the first edition at the 1996 Summer Olympics, and a record for appearing at seven different FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments.
Formiga was a member of the Brazil women's national football team for 26 years and is the most capped football player in the history of the Brazilian national teams (men's or women's) gaining her 234th and final cap in a 6–1 win over India at the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus.[7] She's the only football player in history (men's or women's) to play in seven World Cups and seven Olympic Games.[6][5][4]
Club career[]
Born in Salvador, Formiga was born during a period when it had become illegal for women to play football in Brazil.[8]
Formiga began playing football at the age of 12. She has cited Dunga, captain of the male Brazilian team that won the 1994 FIFA World Cup as the biggest influence on her playing style.[9] She earned the nickname Formiga, which means ant in Portuguese, as a teenager because of her unselfish style of play which reminded fellow players of the way ants worked together as a colony.[10]
Formiga played in the Swedish Damallsvenskan as a member of Malmö FF Dam, and for both Santa Isabel and Saad in her homeland of Brazil.[11] Formiga was the first overall pick for the newly inaugurated Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league in the United States in the 2008 WPS International Draft, selected by FC Gold Pride of Santa Clara, California.[12] Formiga started 15 of her 16 games for Gold Pride in their inaugural season in 2009. The following season, Formiga played for Chicago Red Stars, alongside compatriot Cristiane.[13] In 2011, Formiga returned to her country to play for São José.
In 2017, she signed for Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain.
International career[]
Formiga first played for the Brazilian women's national team at the age of 17, as part of the squad for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, playing as a substitute. The following year, during the inaugural tournament for women's football at the 1996 Summer Olympics, she became a regular starter in the Brazilian team. Formiga and Pretinha were the only two Brazilian players who participated in the first four Olympic Games tournaments of women's football, winning the silver medal in both 2004 and 2008 – both finals lost to the United States.[9] She returned in the 2012 and 2016 tournaments, setting an outright record as the only player present in the first six editions of the Olympics tournament.[14][15] She participated at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, as well.[16]
The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was Formiga's record-breaking seventh consecutive major tournament appearance;[17] Lothar Matthäus, Antonio Carbajal, and Rafael Márquez share the record of five consecutive appearances in the men's competition.[18] Along the way, Formiga's Brazil reached third place in 1999 and were runners-up to Birgit Prinz's Germany in 2007.[9] Formiga became the competition's oldest goalscorer with a goal against South Korea on 9 June 2015.[19] She was 37 years, three months and six days old.[20]
Formiga also won the gold medal in three editions of the Pan American Games, 2003, 2007 and 2015,[9] and winning the silver in 2011 when Brazil were beaten by Canada.
Formiga retired from the Brazilian national team in 2016, but returned in 2018 to compete in the Copa América Femenina, in Chile.[21] She also appeared for Brazil at the 2019 World Cup, becoming the oldest player in the tournament's history at the age of 41.[22] On 1 December 2020, Formiga played her 200th match with Brazil in a 8–0 win over Ecuador.[23]
Formiga played in the 2020 Summer Olympics, to become the first female player to participate in seven Olympic Games.[24]
In November 2021, she announced her second retirement from the Brazilian national team.[25] On November 26, 2021, Formiga played her last match for Brazil in their 6–1 win over India at the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus,[26][27] officially retiring from the national team.[4][5][6]
Honours[]
Club[]
- São Paulo
- Botucatu
- São José
- Copa Libertadores: 2011, 2013, 2014
- Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino: 2012, 2013
- International Women's Club Championship: 2014
- Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino: 2012, 2014, 2015
- Paris Saint-Germain
National team[]
- Pan American Games: 2003, 2007, 2015
- Sudamericano Femenino: 1995, 1998, 2003, 2010, 2014, 2018
- Summer Olympics silver medal: 2004, 2008
Individual[]
- IFFHS CONMEBOL Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020[29]
- Trophées FFF D1 Féminine Team of the Year: 2017–2018[30]
See also[]
- List of women's footballers with 100 or more international caps
- List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
References[]
- ^ "Women's Olympic Football Tournament London 2012 – List of Players Brazil" (PDF). FIFA. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ^ "Formiga". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "List of Players – Brazil" (PDF). FIFA. 8 June 2015. p. 2. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
- ^ a b c "Aos 43 anos, Formiga se aposenta da seleção brasileira". UOL (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ a b c Andrade, Henrique; Candal, Ludmila. "Aos 43 anos, Formiga é convocada para últimos jogos pela Seleção Brasileira". CNN Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ a b c "Personalidades do mundo do futebol homenageiam Formiga em sua despedida da Seleção Brasileira". CBF (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ Football: India battle hard in 6-1 defeat against Brazil as the legendary Formiga bids farewell Scroll.in. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ Gibbs, Lindsay. "41-year-old Formiga is last active Brazilian player who was alive when women's football was illegal". ThinkProgress. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Formiga" (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Lyall, Sarah. "Formiga Isn't Going Anywhere". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ "Formiga" (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Elliot, Almond (3 February 2009). "FC Gold Pride signs No. 1 pick Formiga". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
- ^ "Brazilian midfielder Formiga joins Cristiane on Red Stars". Daily Herald (Arlington Heights). 2 March 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "Record-breaking Brazil set bar high". FIFA. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Xinhua (13 July 2016). "Brazilian football star Formiga set to take part in her sixth Olympic Games". China.org.cn. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "The everlasting 'Ant' makes more history". FIFA. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "FIFA Player: Formiga". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
- ^ Kassouf, Jeff (9 June 2015). "Sawa, Formiga set record with 6th World Cups". The Equalizer. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "Brazil in record-breaking World Cup win against South Korea". The Guardian. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "Formiga, Brazil's supernatural force". FIFA. 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "Formiga volta a campo pela Seleção nesta quinta" [Formiga returns to the field for the Seleção on Thursday] (in Portuguese). Brazilian Football Confederation. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "Brazil's Formiga set to be first player, male or female, to play in seven World Cups". ESPN. Reuters. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ "Brasil 8–0 Equador". cbf.com (in Portuguese). 1 December 2020.
- ^ "Brazil football legends Marta and Formiga create Olympic history". CNN. 21 July 2021.
- ^ "Brazil veteran Formiga to retire from international soccer". AP NEWS. 9 November 2021.
- ^ "Formiga se despede e Brasil estreia com goleada no Torneio Internacional em Manaus". Terra (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ "Formiga se despede da seleção brasileira com goleada em Manaus". Revista Placar (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 November 2021.
- ^ Loyant, Richard (4 June 2021). "Paris SG sacré pour la première fois". Retrieved 4 June 2021.
- ^ "IFFHS WOMAN TEAM - CONMEBOL - OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 26 January 2021.
- ^ "D1F - Trophées FFF : le palmarès 2017-2018". Retrieved 4 June 2021.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Formiga (footballer, born 1978). |
- Formiga – FIFA competition record (archived)
- FC Gold Pride player profile
- New Jersey Wildcats player profile
- Saad player profile (in Portuguese)
- Formiga – 2015 Pan American Games profile
- 1978 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Salvador, Bahia
- People from Salvador, Bahia
- Brazilian women's footballers
- Olympic footballers of Brazil
- Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2003 Pan American Games
- Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games
- Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games
- Olympic silver medalists for Brazil
- 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- FC Gold Pride players
- Olympic medalists in football
- USL W-League players
- FIFA Century Club
- Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Brazil women's international footballers
- Santos FC (women) players
- FC Rosengård players
- Damallsvenskan players
- Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden
- Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States
- Expatriate women's footballers in France
- Chicago Red Stars players
- Women's association football midfielders
- Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil
- Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil
- São José Esporte Clube (women) players
- Pan American Games medalists in football
- New Jersey Wildcats players
- Saad Esporte Clube (women) players
- Division 1 Féminine players
- Brazilian expatriate women's footballers
- Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
- Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
- Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France
- Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players
- Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games
- São Paulo FC (women) players
- Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Women's Professional Soccer players