On a night dedicated to women, FIFA paid the ultimate honor to one of the all-time greats by naming a new award for the best goal scored by a woman in the next year after Brazilian forward Marta.

The all-time top goalscorer, either male or female, in World Cup finals, with 17 goals, and the first player to score in five successive tournaments, Marta was presented with a special trophy at The Best FIFA Football Awards last night in recognition of "more than 20 years of stellar service to the sport."

During that time, she has been voted the FIFA World Player of the Year on six occasions, an outright record in the history of the game until eclipsed by Lionel Messi in 2023. As part of her Special Award, FIFA announced that from next year, "the best goal scored in women’s football will receive the ‘Marta Award’."

Since 2009, the world governing body FIFA has awarded a prize, the Puskás Award, to what was considered the "most beautiful" goal scored during the previous year. The first winner was Cristiano Ronaldo for a 40-yard strike for Manchester United against FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

Ferenc Puskás, a prolific scorer for Honved, Real Madrid and the Hungarian national team, never lived to see the prize bearing his name be awarded having died in 2006. On the creation of the award on October 20, 2009, FIFA President, Sepp Blatter said "it is important to preserve the memory of those footballing greats who have left their mark on our history."

The award was, in theory, open to any goal scored, by either male or female players. In practice, no woman was nominated in the early years until Heather O'Reilly made the ten-goal shortlist in 2011 for a goal for the United States against Colombia at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The Republic of Ireland's Stephanie Roche (now Zambra) ended up second in the ranking behind Colombia's James Rodríguez in 2014. She was the first female player to finish in the top three with a goal which went viral on YouTube after being uploaded by her manager at Peamount United Eileen Gleeson.

Since then, only Venezuelans Daniuska Rodríguez (2016) and Denya Castellanos (2017) have made it into the top three of the FIFA Puskás Award. The way the award is voted on, by a predominantly online vote open to all football fans who register on the FIFA website favors male players in the men's game with much larger global fan bases.

Last year, England's Alessia Russo looked like a strong contender to become the first woman to win the Puskás Award with her celebrated back-heel goal in the semi-final of the UEFA Women's Euro against Sweden. Ultimately, she did not finish among the top three.

Speaking to me following the announcement last night after she herself was voted onto the player's union World XI of the year, Russo called the idea "incredible." "I think it's a really cool touch, to honor one of the greats is so special. It was nice to honor her tonight because she's had an impeccable career."

Manchester United's Ella Toone, also voted onto the FIFPro women's World XI, said "Marta has been unbelievable for the women's game, she's done a lot of work on and off the pitch and made it a better place for all of us coming along. She's definitely a role model of mine and hopefully now we can step up and keep improving the women's game."

England head coach Sarina Wiegman who picked up a record fourth award for The Best Women's Coach agreed. She told me the naming of the new Marta Award was "so deserved". "I think it's really good. She's such an inspiration and such a huge personality in the women's game."

Had the Puskás Award been around a year earlier, Marta would have been an outstanding candidate to win for the goal she scored in the Women's World Cup semi-final against the United States in which she bamboozled defender Tina Ellertson before finishing past Briana Scurry in a devastating 4-0 win.

Marta was presented with her Special Award by the first FIFA Women's World Cup winning captain, Carla Overbeck, and Marcia Cibele Aoki, the widow of another Brazilian great, the late Pelé. The 37-year-old said last summer she would not play at another Women's World Cup but hinted that we may not have seen the last of her on the international stage.

She said "it's very difficult to get on this stage. I've already won this award six times, but this here is without a doubt something much more special, difficult to even find words, but, just as I'm seeing in this honor, I want all women to be able to see a promising future."

"I want to thank FIFA and the entire global football community for the honor I am receiving during my lifetime and still active. And I want to say that this, without a doubt, is a great motivation for us to continue seeking to evolve, because there is always something to learn. And in the year of the Olympics, who knows, maybe I'll play another one and then I'll have the answers as to whether I'm going to continue or not."