Brazilian footballer Marta won FIFA’s prestigious World Player of the Year award at a gala event in Zurich, Switzerland yesterday evening and expressed her support for the Rio 2016 bid on the occasion. The award, which she has won for the third consecutive time, will be added to a collection that also includes two silver medals from the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Marta, widely regarded as the best woman footballer of her generation, is a keen supporter of Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and believes hosting the Games in Rio would inspire future Brazilian champions in many sports.

“I am delighted with this award,” she said. “It is a huge acknowledgment for Brazil, a country that loves and values sport so much. One of the most significant highlights of my career in 2008 was winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Participating in the Games is incredible and it would be a dream come true to see Rio de Janeiro host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016.”

Marta also identifies personally with the potential transformation and sporting legacy for youth in Brazil associated with Rio’s bid to host the Games in 2016. “I first came to Rio when I was 14 years old to try my luck in football and fell in love with the city,” she said. “The idea of hosting the Olympic Games in Rio is very exciting and reminds me of how I felt moments before the football final for the 2007 Pan American Games, when we played in front of 70,000 spectators at Maracanã Stadium. It was indescribable and I want to be able to experience that again. More importantly, I firmly believe that seeing the best athletes in the world close up is the inspiration that thousands of young people need in order to discover or rediscover sport.”

Twenty-two-year-old Marta was elected Women’s World Player of the Year with 1,002 points, ahead of German players Birgit Prinz (328) and Nadine Angerer (198), Brazilian teammate Cristiane (275), and English striker Kelly Smith (150).