Mariléia dos Santos (born 19 November 1963), commonly known as Michael Jackson, is a Brazilian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for the Brazil women's national football team.

Early life

Mariléia dos Santos had 10 siblings, and they all liked football, making her choose the sport. The nickname Michael Jackson was an

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

to the recording artist, used by her teammates and given by television commentator

Luciano do Valle Luciano do Valle Queirós (4 July 1947 – 19 April 2014) was a Brazilian sports commentator, television presenter, journalist and entrepreneur. He worked on several broadcasts on television—Rede Globo from 1971 to 1982, Rede Record ...

. Speaking in May 1999, United States player

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

did not see much resemblance: "She didn't really look like Michael Jackson, but she did wear one glove."

Career

Michael Jackson began her professional career at EC Radar, and in 1988 she represented Brazil at the

FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament The 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament, or International Women's Football Tournament, was organised by FIFA in China from 1 to 12 June 1988. The competition was a test to study if a global women's World Cup was feasible following the experie ...

in Guangdong, finishing in third place. After her appearance with Brazil in 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 women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

, Michael Jackson accepted a contract offer from Italian Serie A club Torino. Michael Jackson played for the Brazil women's national football team at the

, as well as at the Olympic debut of women's football at 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, ...

Retirement

Michael Jackson retired from playing aged 46, with a reported 1574 goals to her credit. In 2011, she took a job at a newly created woman's football division of the Brazilian Ministry of Sports, helping develop more tournaments for the mostly neglected female version. She was named equal third in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) South America's best Women's Footballer of the Century list.

References

External links

* 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian women's footballers Olympic footballers of Brazil Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Serie A (women's football) players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Brazil women's international footballers Brazilian expatriate women's footballers EC Radar players Women's association football forwards Torino Women A.S.D. players People from Valença, Rio de Janeiro Sport Club Internacional (women) players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Saad Esporte Clube (women) players CR Vasco da Gama (women) players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista (women) players Santos FC (women) players {{Brazil-women-footy-bio-stub