Miraildes Maciel Mota (born 3 March 1978), commonly known as Formiga ( pt, ant), is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

er who last played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

for

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state leag ...

. She previously played for professional clubs in Sweden, the United States and France. Formiga holds many international records as a member of the Brazil national team, being the only player present in all Olympic Games tournaments of women's football since the first edition at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta ...

, and a record for appearing at seven different

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

tournaments. Formiga was a member of the Brazil national team for 26 years and is the most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

football player in the history of the Brazil national teams (men's or women's), gaining her 234th and final cap in a 6–1 win over

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus. She is the only football player in history (men's or women's) to play in seven World Cups and seven Olympic Games.

Club career

Born in Salvador, Formiga was born during a period when it had become illegal for women to play football in Brazil. Formiga began playing football at the age of 12, although she was sometimes beaten up by her brother who did not want her to join in. She was supported by her mother, Celeste, who took her to play

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

for the nearby Euroexport club. Formiga performed well at Euroexport and had a good relationship with the coach Dilma Mendes. She came to the notice of national team selectors while at Euroexport, but when national team players were encouraged to move to

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

-based clubs in preparation for the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, coach Mendes helped her to sign for Saad. In 1997 Formiga joined newly-formed

where she won state and national titles. São Paulo FC closed their women's section in 2000 and Formiga did not play in the controversial 2001 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino. She was among six Brazilian players reported to have engaged a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was foun ...

-licenced

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

with a view to joining the nascent

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

in the United States. However she was not included in the

2000 WUSA Foreign Player Allocation The 2000 WUSA Foreign Player Allocation took place on October 30, 2000. It was the first international draft held by Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to assign the rights of international players to the eight American-based teams. The 16 ...

and instead played the 2001 season with Santa Isabel of

Ubá Ubá is a municipality located in the Zona da Mata mesoregion of Minas Gerais, Brazil, southeast of Belo Horizonte, and north of Rio de Janeiro. The estimated population of the city of Ubá was 116,797 in 2020. The current mayor of Ubá is Eds ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

. She joined a competitive team assembled under Formiga's former national team coach Dema, which won the 2001 Campeonato Brasileiro as hosts. In 2002 Formiga spent a brief period with Santos, joining alongside Valeria and playing under future national team coach Kleiton Lima. She was restricted to local friendly appearances as the São Paulo state and national competitions had collapsed. Also in 2002, Formiga was part of Santa Cruz's Minas Gerais state championship-winning team. Immediately after playing at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, Formiga joined the Swedish

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenska ...

as a member of Malmö FF Dam. She had been playing indoor football for the previous two years. Formiga made a favourable impression in her first two months with the club, who were pleased when she agreed to extend her contract in December 2004. Private sponsors agreed to cover her substantial 75,000 kr salary for the first half of the 2005 season. She helped Malmö finish second in 2005, but the club could not afford to extend her contract again, describing her as "an expensive solution". With the

New Jersey Wildcats The New Jersey Wildcats is an American women’s soccer team, founded by Vincent Baldino in 1996. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played ...

in the 2006 USL W-League season, Formiga was deployed as a forward, scoring 13 goals in 12 games. She returned to the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

with Jersey Sky Blue, where she was less prolific in front of goal: scoring once in six appearances but serving five assists. Formiga was the first overall pick for the newly inaugurated

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

(WPS) league in the United States in the

2008 WPS International Draft The 2008 WPS International Draft took place on September 24, 2008. It was the first international draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of international players to the American-based teams. For the 2009 season, teams ...

, selected by

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-l ...

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. 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. In 2011, Formiga returned to her country to play for São José. In 2017, she signed for

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...

International career

Formiga first played for the Brazil national team at the age of 17, as part of the squad for the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament featured 12 women's national teams from si ...

, playing as a substitute. The following year, during the inaugural tournament for women's football at the

, she became a regular starter in the Brazilian team. Formiga and

Pretinha Delma Gonçalves (born 19 May 1975), commonly known as Pretinha,In a June 199with Grant Wahl, Pretinha said her nickname means "little black girl" and that the reference to skin color is not considered problematic in Brazil. is a Brazilian profe ...

were the only two Brazilian players who participated in the first four

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

tournaments of women's football, winning the silver medal in both

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and 2008 – both finals lost to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. 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. She participated at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, as well. The

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It t ...

was Formiga's record-breaking seventh consecutive major tournament appearance;

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

Antonio Carbajal Antonio Félix "Tota" Carbajal Rodríguez (; born 7 June 1929) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was also called ''"El Cinco Copas"'', in reference to his then-record of five World Cups played. Club car ...

, and

Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Álvarez (; born 13 February 1979) is a Mexican former professional footballer and current head coach of Spanish team Barcelona Atlètic. Nicknamed '' El Káiser'', he is regarded as the best defender in Mexico's history and o ...

share the record of five consecutive appearances in the men's competition. Along the way, Formiga's Brazil reached third place in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and were runners-up to

Birgit Prinz Birgit Prinz (born 25 October 1977) is a German former footballer, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. In addition to the German national team, Prinz played for 1. FFC Frankfurt in the Frauen-B ...

's Germany in

. Formiga became the competition's oldest goalscorer with a goal against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

on 9 June 2015. She was 37 years, three months and six days old. Formiga also won the gold medal in three editions of the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, and winning the silver in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

when Brazil was beaten by Canada. Formiga retired from the Brazil national team in 2016 but returned in 2018 to compete in the Copa América Femenina in Chile. She also appeared for Brazil at the 2019 World Cup, becoming the oldest player in the tournament's history at the age of 41. On 1 December 2020, Formiga played her 200th match with Brazil in an 8–0 win over

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Ekua ...

. Formiga played in the

, to become the first female player to participate in seven Olympic Games. In November 2021, she announced her second retirement from the Brazil national team. On 26 November, 2021, Formiga played her last match for Brazil in their 6–1 win over

at the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus, officially retiring from the national team.

International goals

Style of play

She has cited

Dunga Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (born 31 October 1963), known as Dunga (), is a Brazilian football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Under his captaincy, Brazil won the 1994 FIFA World Cup and he lift ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the male Brazil national team team that won the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

as the biggest influence on her playing style. She earned the nickname Formiga, which means

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,0 ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, as a teenager because of her unselfish style of play which reminded fellow players of the way ants worked together as a colony.

Honours

São Paulo *

Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

: 1997 *

Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino The Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino (''Paulista Women's Football Championship'', in English) is the women's football state championship of São Paulo State, and is contested since 1987. Format There is no predetermined format for th ...

: 1997 Botucatu *

: 2008 São José * Copa Libertadores:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 2014 *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gath ...

* International Women's Club Championship: 2014 *

: 2012, 2014, 2015 Paris Saint-Germain *

: 2020–21 *

Coupe de France Féminine A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

: 2017–18 Brazil *

* Sudamericano Femenino:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

, 2014,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

silver medal:

, 2008 Individual * IFFHS CONMEBOL Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020 *Trophées FFF D1 Féminine Team of the Year: 2017–2018

References

External links

* *
FC Gold Pride player profile

–

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak albu ...

profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Formiga 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 (1995–2015) 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

Club career

Club career

International career

International goals

Style of play

Honours

See also

References

External links