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 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, and a record for appearing at seven different FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments.
![]() Formiga at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Miraildes Maciel Mota[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1978-03-03) 3 March 1978 (age 44) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2022– | São Paulo | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1995–2021 | Brazil | 234[4][5][6] | (29) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Honours
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 November 2021 |
Formiga was a member of the Brazil national team for 26 years and is the most capped 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 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]
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 Brazil national team 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.
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, 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 Brazil 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 Brazil 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]
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
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1. | 15 March 1998 | Estadio José María Minella, Mar del Plata, Argentina | ![]() | 2–0 | 7–1 | 1998 South American Women's Football Championship |
2. | 25 April 2003 | Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru | ![]() | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2003 South American Women's Football Championship |
3. | 27 April 2003 | ![]() | 3–0 | 12–0 | ||
4. | 20 August 2004 | Pankritio Stadium, Heraklio, Greece | ![]() | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2004 Summer Olympics |
5. | 4–0 | |||||
6. | 23 September 2007 | Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin, China | ![]() | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup |
7. | 18 August 2008 | Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai, China | ![]() | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2008 Summer Olympics |
8. | 12 September 2014 | Estadio Federativo Reina del Cisne, Loja, Ecuador | ![]() | 1–0 | 6–0 | 2014 Copa América Femenina |
9. | 5–0 | |||||
10. | 9 June 2015 | Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada | ![]() | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup |
11. | 7 April 2018 | Estadio Municipal Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso, Coquimbo, Chile | ![]() | 4–0 | 8–0 | 2018 Copa América Femenina |
São Paulo
Botucatu
São José
Paris Saint-Germain
Brazil
Individual
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