Mayssa Raquel de Oliveira Pessoa, also known as Mayssa Pessoa (born 11 September 1984) is a Brazilian female

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

goalkeeper for Norwegian club

Sola HK Sola HK (short: Sola Håndball) is a handball club from Sola, Rogaland, Norway. The women's team currently competes in REMA 1000-ligaen. Results Norway * REMA 1000-ligaen **''Silver:'' 2024/25 **''Bronze:'' 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 *No ...

and formerly the Brazilian national team. In 2013 she won the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

; the first time ever for Brazil and South America. She was one of nearly two dozen LGBT Olympians at the London Games.Mayssa
cob.org.br

Career

Pessoa joied French side

Issy-Paris Hand Paris 92 is a French professional handball club from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris. This team currently competes in the LFH Division 1 Féminine, French Women's Handball First League from 2010. The club was previously named Issy-les-Moulineaux Han ...

. A year later she joined Russian team

Dinamo Volgograd Dinamo Volgograd () is a Russian women's handball club from Volgograd. Founded in 1972 as Burevestnik Volgograd, it represented Rotor Volgograd following the collapse of the Soviet Union and was subsequently named Aqva before taking its current na ...

to replace the injured

Anna Sedoykina Anna Sergeyevna Sedoykina ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Седойкина, , ˈanːə sʲɪˈdojkʲɪnə; born 1 August 1984) is a Russian former handball player who retired in 2022 while playing for CSKA Moscow. She also played for the R ...

. Here she won the 2013 and 2014

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

. In 2014 she joined Romanian

CSM București Clubul Sportiv Municipal București, commonly known as CSM București is a Romanian professional multi-sports club based in Bucharest. Departments Active branches: *Athletics *Basketball *Dancesport *Handball *Judo *Scrabble *Volleyball Defunct ...

. Together with three other Brazilian players she won the

Romanian National League Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

in 2015, which was the first in club history. In her second season at the club she won the league for a second time in 2016, and this time she also won the Romanian cup and the 2016 Champions League, beating Hungarian Gyor in the final. Afterwards she joined North Macedonian

HC Vardar HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc * ...

. Here she played a single season, where she won both the Macedonian league and cup. In 2017 she returned to Russia and joined

Rostov-Don Rostov-Don () is a professional female handball team from Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Established in 1965, the club was called Rostselmash until 2002. Rostov-Don is competing in the Russian Super League. They have won the league seven times, in 1994, 2 ...

. Here she won the Russian championship in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2021 she joined Romanian

Dunărea Brăila Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See a ...

. In 2023 she joined Danish side

HH Elite Horsens Håndboldklub Elite, also known as Horsens Håndboldklubis a Danish handball club. For the 2018/19 season, the team promoted to the Damehåndboldligaen, after its relegation in 2010. The team plays at home in Forum Horsens. At elite le ...

to replace the pregnant

Emily Stang Sando Emily Stang Sando (born 8 March 1989) is a Norwegian handball goalkeeper for Ikast Håndbold and formerly the Norwegian national team. She played for HH Elite until 2024. From February 2024 until the end of the season, she took a break from han ...

. In the 2023-24 season the team narrowly escaped relegation and finished in 12th out of 14. The following summer she joined Norwegian

Achievements

: ** ''Winner'':

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Pan American Championship A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the mos ...

: ** ''Winner'':

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

: ** ''Winner'':

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

: ** ''Winner:''

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

** ''Finalist:''

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

French Championship The French rugby league championship () was the top tier of the French rugby league system from its inception in 1934 until 2002 when the league was split into two divisions; the Elite One Championship and Elite Two Championship. In all seasons ...

: ** ''Silver Medalist'': 2012 *

: ** ''Winner'': 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020 *

: ** ''Winner'':

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Romanian Cup: ** ''Finalist'': 2015 * Norwegian League: **''Silver:'' 2024/25

Awards and recognition

* All-Star Goalkeeper of the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the

Bucharest Trophy The Bucharest Trophy () is a pre-season international women's team handball tournament for clubs, held each year in Bucharest, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and So ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Team of the Tournament Goalkeeper of the Bucharest Trophy: 2014,

Personal life

Pessoa comes from a family of

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s. Nicknamed Taffarel, she resides in the same city with

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

(João Pessoa). Her father is a university professor and a former athlete who competed in handball, volleyball, basketball, futsal and beach handball. Her mother is a lawyer, and one of her two sisters is a

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

.Brazilianca de la CSM recunoaște curajos: e lesbiană! Handbalista Mayssa Pessoa vorbește deschis despre orientarea ei sexuală , EXCLUSIV , Alte sporturi, Ştiri interne
Libertatea.ro. Retrieved on 5 August 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pessoa, Mayssa Brazilian female handball players 1984 births Bisexual sportswomen LGBTQ handball players Brazilian bisexual sportspeople Brazilian bisexual women Living people Sportspeople from João Pessoa, Paraíba Handball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Brazil Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists in handball Pan American Games handball players for Brazil Handball players at the 2015 Pan American Games World Games gold medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2005 World Games Brazilian expatriate handball players in France Expatriate handball players in Russia Brazilian expatriate handball players in Romania Expatriate handball players in North Macedonia 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen Brest Bretagne players Beach handball players