Ann My Cato (; born 25 April 2002) is a Swedish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. She has previously played for Swedish clubs

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

, Kvarnsveden IK, and Linköpings.

Youth career

Born in

, Cato began her youth career at Swedish club Eneby BK, later joining Division 1 side

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

aged 14, and making her senior debut in 2016.

Club career

In 2019, Cato signed for

Elitettan Elitettan (, ) is the second highest division of Swedish women's football. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest divisi ...

club Kvarnsveden IK for the 2020 season, prior to joining

Linköpings FC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

in the

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

for the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, in the top tier of women's football in Sweden. Cato spent 8 months on on loan with

in the second division for the 2021 season, scoring eight times in 24 appearances. The following season, she helped the team to gain promotion to the top tier as runners-up of the

. In 2023, she became captain of the team. On 1 September 2024, Cato signed a three-year contract with

club

ahead of the 2024–25 season. On 17 November, she scored her debut goal for Palace, opening the scoring in the 30th minute in a 3–2 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

International career

On 2 October 2019, Cato featured as a substitute for the Sweden under-19 national team, as part of 2020 U19 Championship qualification, in a 14–0 victory over

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. Cato received her first call-up to the Sweden national team in the summer of 2024. In November 2024, she returned to the under-23s, in order to face

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 2 December.

Style of play

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described Cato has a "versatile player with strong defensive capabilities", while also supportive in attacking for a goal. '' SheKicks'' called her a "creative

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

", and Cato has described herself as a box-to-box player.

Honours

;IFK Norrköping *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

runner up

References

External links

My Cato
at Crystal Palace F.C. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cato, My 2002 births Living people Kvarnsvedens IK players Linköpings FC players Damallsvenskan players Crystal Palace F.C. (Women) players Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's youth international footballers Women's association football midfielders Women's Super League players 21st-century Swedish sportswomen IFK Norrköping (women) players Expatriate sportspeople in England