When the Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current face off this weekend in a matchup eagerly awaited by NWSL fans, it will surely fuel the fire of a thriving rivalry. While they’ll go head-to-head Friday night, powerhouse players on both sides have one very strong common tie: Brazil.

Marta and Debinha have made an undeniable impact on the NWSL for their play alone, but they also are faces of a movement as more Brazilian players join the NWSL ranks. The first didn’t play in the NWSL as we know it until 2014. This season, there are 16 (not including, Tamara Bolt who is out on loan to Dallas Trinity FC).

In Friday’s game alone, there’s Lorena, Bia and Debinha on the Current, and Angelina, Rafaelle, and Luana on the Pride with Marta.

To understand why players are following in the footsteps of these legends and finding success in the NWSL, we need to look back.

THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE

We can’t talk about the Brazilian rush without talking about those who laid the groundwork early on.

Before Marta and Debinha, even before the NWSL, there were Brazilian legends like Sissi and Formiga. Sissi, a technically gifted No. 10 and the co-Golden Boot winner of the iconic 1999 Women’s World Cup, helped launch the first women’s professional soccer league in the U.S., the WUSA, in 2001. Her unforgettable free kick in the World Cup quarterfinal and her time with the Bay Area CyberRays showed the world that it wasn’t just Brazilian men like Pelé who could play with elegance and flair, the women had inherited the talent as well.

Formiga, who over the span of her career, played in seven World Cups, was a generational talent in her own right, offering the kind of midfield steel and leadership that has inspired countless playmakers and fans of the joga bonito style across continents and generations. These women and many others in Brazil, who learned to play the game in secret with their hair sheared short to blend in with the boys because it was banned for women, weren’t just athletes, they were revolutionaries.

We wouldn’t have Marta and Debinha without them.

Fast forward to the launch of the NWSL. Rafaelle became the first Brazilian in the league when she was drafted out of Ole Miss in 2014 by the Houston Dash. She played for one season, before returning to the league in 2023, where she has found great success in Orlando. The needle didn’t move much in 2015 and 2016 with less than three Brazilians taking to the field.

But then, Brazil hosted the Olympics in 2016, coming in fourth in the tournament. With a new cycle starting at the closing of the Games, it was apparent that players needed to find new experiences outside their borders in order to continue developing.

BY THE NUMBERS

In a way, Marta and Debinha have been intrinsically intertwined since they both joined the NWSL in 2017. The day Marta made her NWSL debut for the Pride, Debinha scored her first NWSL goal and the first-ever home goal for the North Carolina Courage.

Both settled into play, eventually winning championships.

Debinha was part of a historic run with the Courage that included three Shields, two NWSL Championships, and a Championship game MVP over five seasons.

Last season, Marta got the fairytale ending she had been chasing when the Pride won the 2024 NWSL Championship. Her goal in the semi-final (against Kansas City, of course) sent Orlando to the championship.

Beyond the hardware, Marta and Debinha have places in the NWSL history books.

Marta is the Pride's all-time regular season leader in games, starts, goals, assists, and penalty kick goals. (What? Like it’s hard?) With one more PK goal, she will tie Megan Rapinoe for the most career regular-season penalty kicks with 14, and with one more assist, she’ll join the exclusive 40/20 club.

If she is on the field for the entire game, Marta will surpass 10,000 minutes played in her NWSL career, making her only the second Brazilian player to do so. The first? Wouldn’t you know it, it’s the Current’s own Debinha.

After her time in North Carolina, Brazilian midfielder signed with the Current in 2023, where she continued to climb the ranks in the league’s record books. She is No. 4 in all-time regular season scoring with 52 goals and No. 5 in goals scored in all competitions with 76. She’s in elite company as one of only eight NWSL players to score 50 or more regular season goals, and only one of four NWSL players to be in the 50/25 club.

All of this to say, Marta and Debinha have left a mark on the NWSL.

TURNING THE TIDE

When they joined the NWSL in 2017, there were eight Brazilians in the league. That was twice as many as the previous season. The number of Brazilians in the NWSL fluctuated every year but in 2023, something shifted when the number nearly tripled, going from five to 13.

But why did so many players follow their lead and take their talents to the NWSL?

This is, in part, because of how competitive the NWSL is week-to-week. It can be any team’s game on any given night. The NWSL is a league where the best of the best from all over the world come to compete at the highest level.

And they aren’t slowing down. Earlier this week, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist Brazilian women’s national team announced their roster for their next series of international matches. Marta, Debinha, Lorena, and Angelina all made the cut.

Competing at the highest level only sharpens skills.

Marta has been vocal in trying to encourage Brazilian players to come to the NWSL, working as a niche recruiter deadset on hitting her quotas. Last year on “The Women’s Game,” a podcast hosted by Sam Mewis, Marta admitted as much.

“Oh every single year, when I was in Brazil or with the national team or on vacation, if I had the opportunity to talk with the players there, I always recommend they go to America,” she said.

Marta’s plea, it seems, fell on curious ears.

Take goalkeeper Lorena, for example. Lorena signed with the Current in January after serving as Brazil’s starting keeper in the 2024 Olympics. She became the first goalie to start her NWSL career with a clean 4-0-0 record.

As the NWSL continues to grow, so too will the impact of the Brazilian players who have come before and those whose names we’ve yet to hear. Sissi, Formiga, Marta, and Debinha’s legacy—that of elegant footwork, fearless creativity, and brilliant resistance—lives on in those future generations of footballers.

And NWSL fans are privileged to witness it.

You can watch Marta and Debinha when the Pride and Current face off on Friday, May 16 at 8 p.m. on Prime Video. You’re not going to want to miss this one.