I have not played my last match for Umeå, says Marta
"I don't think I've played my last match for Umeå", said Marta when interviewed after her brilliant performance in Umeå's 6-0 defeat of Arsenal in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Cup quarter finals. But the 22 years old continued "I'm planning to play for at least eight more years", which I interpreted as that she might return to Umeå before retiring from football, and when pressed on an answer about her present negotiations with Umeå and Los Angeles Sol, she decided it was wiser not to comment at all.
Still, this prompted a new wave of speculations about the chance that she will stay in Umeå for the 2009 season. There was even a rumor that Umeå had secured funding for an offer to Marta that would match the money from the American Los Angeles Sol club. Umeå's general manager Britta Åkerlund swiftly denied this, claiming that she is still a seven figure amount from that.
But comments from the Umeå camp are sounding a bit more optimistic than before. Åkerlund says that she is still talking to Marta's agent Fabiano Farah and his interest seems to have grown the last few days. Her picture is that things are fairly quiet on the American side and that there is an amount of uncertainty and cautiousness that could be in Umeå's favour. A local paper also published a long analysis of the emerging American league, focusing on the problems financing it during what seems to be the biggest recession since the great depression in the 1930's.
In spite of this, Marta has been very much treated as a player retiring from the Swedish league. She was interviewed in a big prime time talk show where people like IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad and former prime minister Göran Persson also have been guests and the local newspaper Västerbottenskuriren published a 16 page insert about her career in Umeå.
The one that actually did play her last match got much less attention. 31 years old Frida Östberg explained her decision to leave football after 14 seasons at the highest level with a simple "sooner or later you have to move on" and she would like to be able to spend more time with her boyfriend Andreas, who lives and works in Holland.
Expressen: Nu kan Marta stanna i Umeå
Aftonbladet: Umeås hopp – finanskris
Expressen: Frida Östberg slutar - flyttar till Holland
Still, this prompted a new wave of speculations about the chance that she will stay in Umeå for the 2009 season. There was even a rumor that Umeå had secured funding for an offer to Marta that would match the money from the American Los Angeles Sol club. Umeå's general manager Britta Åkerlund swiftly denied this, claiming that she is still a seven figure amount from that.
But comments from the Umeå camp are sounding a bit more optimistic than before. Åkerlund says that she is still talking to Marta's agent Fabiano Farah and his interest seems to have grown the last few days. Her picture is that things are fairly quiet on the American side and that there is an amount of uncertainty and cautiousness that could be in Umeå's favour. A local paper also published a long analysis of the emerging American league, focusing on the problems financing it during what seems to be the biggest recession since the great depression in the 1930's.
In spite of this, Marta has been very much treated as a player retiring from the Swedish league. She was interviewed in a big prime time talk show where people like IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad and former prime minister Göran Persson also have been guests and the local newspaper Västerbottenskuriren published a 16 page insert about her career in Umeå.
The one that actually did play her last match got much less attention. 31 years old Frida Östberg explained her decision to leave football after 14 seasons at the highest level with a simple "sooner or later you have to move on" and she would like to be able to spend more time with her boyfriend Andreas, who lives and works in Holland.
Expressen: Nu kan Marta stanna i Umeå
Aftonbladet: Umeås hopp – finanskris
Expressen: Frida Östberg slutar - flyttar till Holland
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