Legendary women football star Miraildes Maciel Mota, popularly known as 'Formiga', donned Brazil's famous yellow jersey for the final time in yesterday’s (November 25) friendly against India in Manaus.

Born in Salvador in 1978, just 3 years before her country lifted its ban on women’s football, Formiga began playing football at the age of 12 and her rise up the sport's ranks was spectacular ever since.

At the age of 17, she was awarded her first international cap at the '95 Women’s World Cup and in a little over a year, she was an established first-team player, regularly starting for Brazil at the '96 Atlanta Olympics.

Brought glory to Brazilian women football:

In her illustrious career spanning 26 years, she went on to clock some unsurpassable figures.

She ended up with formidable 234 caps, 37 goals, seven World Cup and seven Olympic appearances and the world have also seen her walk away with two Olympic silver medals (Athens '04 and Beijing '08), the runner-up title at the 2007 World Cup, third place at the 1999 World Cup, three Pan American Games wins and six Copa America Femenino titles.

Number '8' has been such a cornerstone in her sport that there hasn't been an Olympic women’s football tournament without her. In Tokyo Olympics, she became the first athlete to compete at seven Olympics in any team sport, and the oldest woman to play at the Women’s Olympic Football tournament, outdoing her team-mate Meg.

And it's not just the International stage, Brazilian footballer has also played for teams in Sweden, the US and France, where, notably, she helped Paris Saint-Germain lift their first league title just last season.

Although Formiga retires without a World cup trophy or Olympic gold medal on her bio, she will forever be remembered for her everlasting sporting commitment to her country, and of course, for her silky footwork on the ball.

What a great ambassador of the game!

Thank you Guerriera, you will be badly missed!! ❤️ ⚽