Catarina Cantanhede Melônio Macário (born October 4, 1999) is a Brazilian-born American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in the French

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

. She represents the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

internationally. Macario was a decorated collegiate player in the United States. In 2017, she was named "Freshman of the Year" by the

TopDrawerSoccer.com TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was laun ...

and

ESPNW ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

Player of the Year. In 2018, Macario won the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

, ESPNW Player of the Year, and the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award. In 2019, Macario won the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

and again won the Hermann Trophy.

Early life

Macario was born in

São Luís, Maranhão São Luís (, ''Saint Louis'') is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on São Luís Island, Upaon-açu Island (Big Island, in Tupi language, Tupi Language) or São Luís island, Ilha de São Luís ...

, Brazil. She started playing football at the age of 4, following the footsteps of her older brother, Steve. She started playing in the academy of

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

in São Luís. She remained there for less than 6 months before switching to the Cruzeiro academy. At the age of 7, she moved with the family to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. In Brasilia, Catarina played for the Santos academy, where she remained until she moved to the United States in December 2011. In Brazil, Catarina had always played for men's teams and only started playing for a women's team after arriving in the United States. In 2011, at the age of 12 and without speaking any English, Macario relocated with her father and brother to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California in order to pursue her dream of playing soccer. Her mother, a doctor, remained in Brazil in order to financially support the family. While playing for the San Diego Surf as a youth player, she broke the all-time goalscoring record in the ECNL with 165 goals.

Stanford University

On February 1, 2017, Macario committed to play collegiately for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. In her freshman year in 2017, she played 25 matches, scoring 17 goals and clinching 16 assists. As a result of her performance this year she won several awards, including being named "ESPNW Player of the Year", "

Freshman of the Year", "Pac-12 Forward of the Year", and "Pac-12 Freshman of the Year". In her sophomore year in 2018, Macario scored 14 goals with 8 assists in 19 matches played. On December 11, 2018, she received the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award. On January 4, 2019, Macario won the

MAC Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

, awarded to the nation's top female and male players. Additionally, she was named "espnW Player of the Year" and "Pac-12 Forward of the Year" for the second year in a row. In her junior year, Macario was the winner of the

, given to the nation's top female collegiate soccer player. She was also awarded the MAC Hermann Trophy a second time, becoming the sixth woman to repeat as winner since the award was established in 1988. Stanford won the NCAA Women's College Cup in her freshman and junior years.

Professional

On January 8, 2021, Macario announced that she would be forgoing her senior season at Stanford to start her professional career. On January 12, 2021,

announced they signed Macario for 2.5 years. She made her debut for Lyon in the

on February 6, 2021, coming on as a substitute in the 37th minute for

Amandine Henry Amandine Chantal Henry (born 28 September 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Division 1 Féminine club Lyon and the France national team. Having played in all youth levels, Henry made her senior in ...

in a 2–1 win against

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

International career

Macario is eligible to play internationally for Brazil and the United States. She was called to represent the United States at several youth levels. Macario stated that she intended to represent the United States at the senior level, turning down several approaches from the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...

. She generally plays as a midfielder for the United States, although Vlatko Andonovski has stated she could move to a

false nine Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

role in the future. On October 8, 2020, Macario received her first call up to represent the

at senior level, though she could not yet do this in games until she received clearance from FIFA. Later the same day, she announced on Twitter that she had acquired

American citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

. On January 13, 2021, U.S. Soccer announced that Macario received clearance from FIFA to represent the United States internationally. On January 18, 2021, Macario debuted for the United States, coming in the half-time of a friendly match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, thus becoming the first naturalized citizen ever to play for the US senior women's team. In the next game, another friendly against Colombia, she started for the first time, scoring her first international goal, on January 22, 2021. On June 23, 2021, Macario was included in the United States roster for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Personal life

Despite declaring herself a fan of

Marta Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...

, Macario stated that her favorite soccer player is American former

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Mia Hamm.

Career statistics

College

Club

International

International goals

Honors

Lyon * UEFA Women's Champions: 2021–22 International * SheBelieves Cup:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

;

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Olympic Bronze Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

Individual * ESPNW Player of the Year: 2017, 2018 *

: 2018, 2019 * CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 first team: 2018 * TopDrawerSoccer.com Freshman of the Year: 2017 * TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Year: 2018, 2019 * United Soccer Coaches First-Team All-America: 2017, 2018 * Pac-12 Forward of the Year: 2017, 2018 * Pac-12 Freshman of the Year: 2017 *

: 2020 * Best Player SheBelieves Cup:

References

External links

*
Catarina Macario
at

U.S. Soccer The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macario, Catarina 1999 births Living people People from São Luís, Maranhão Soccer players from San Diego American women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players American sportspeople of Brazilian descent Brazilian emigrants to the United States Brazilian women's footballers Women's association football forwards American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Hermann Trophy women's winners Stanford Cardinal women's soccer players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Division 1 Féminine players People with acquired American citizenship Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in soccer Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Maranhão