FIFA Women’s World Cup will be Marta’s last dance

Brazilian football icon Marta is set to take part in her sixth and final Women’s World Cup, as the national team kicks off its group campaign against Panama on July 24. 

But even after scoring more World Cup goals than any player in history — man or woman, living or dead — Marta has yet to bring home the top trophy in women’s football. And arguably the greatest women’s footballer of all time may well retire from the game without winning a single World Cup.

The blame for this blank spot in the Brazilian national team’s list of honors does not lie with Marta, nor does it lie with any female Brazilian player.

While Brazil is synonymous worldwide with football, calling it the “land of men’s football” may be more accurate. 

Indeed, women’s football was made illegal in 1941, with the ban lasting right up until 1979. The idea was that women should only be allowed to play sports that were “suitable to their nature,” and noncompliant women and girls could face arrest for playing the national game. The United Kingdom, Germany, and France had similar bans.

As such, when international women’s football tournaments began popping up in the 1970s and 1980s, Brazil’s team was hugely unprepared. In the first Women’s World Cup organized by...