Cata Coll

Catalina Tomàs "Cata" Coll Lluch (born 23 April 2001) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga F club FC Barcelona and the Spain national team. In the summer of 2018, at the age of 17, she was one of the captains during the historic triumph of the Spanish U17 team at the World Cup. In the same year, she was a starter for the U20 side at the World Cup in France.

Early life
Catalina Tomàs Coll Lluch was born on 23 April 2001 in Mallorca; she is from Pòrtol, a town in the municipality of Marratxí on the island. She is named for Catherine of Palma, a patron saint of Mallorca.

Club career
Cata Coll started playing football at the age of 6 in the Sant Marçal team. She began playing as a central defender until she tried goalkeeping at the age of 11. She played in boys' teams until she was 14 years old, when she moved up to the women's team after signing for Athletic Marratxí, before moving to Collerense. In her last season, she was one of the key players in achieving promotion to the newly launched Iberdrola Challenge League. After being a pillar in her team and standing out remarkably, Coll raised the interest of Primera División clubs, finally opting for the offer of Fútbol Club Barcelona. In July 2019, it was announced that she had signed a contract until 2023 and that she would play the first season on loan to Sevilla FC in the Primera División. Coll began the season sharing minutes with Sara Serrat and Noelia Ramos, but as the games went by, she became the goalkeeper most used by the coach. In her first season in the First Division, Coll played 16 league games.

In July 2020, Barcelona confirmed Coll was returning after having played the previous year on loan. In October 2020, Coll played in goal after an injury to Sandra Paños that kept her away from the pitch for several weeks. Coll stated Paños was her idol as a child. Coll was decisive in the league match against Atlético Madrid, where she saved a penalty with the score still 0-0. She debuted in the Champions League in a qualifying match played against PSV that the team won by 4 goals to 1. In December 2020, she was injured in the match played against Sevilla. The club's medical services reported that she suffered a meniscus injury in her right leg. At the end of March, she received a medical discharge.

In February 2023, she extended her contract with the club until June 2026. She had her breakthrough season in 2023–24, being entrusted with the majority of matches as starting goalkeeper for the first time, and reliably performed; she conceded six goals in the season, three each in the Champions League and in the Liga F.

International career
In 2016, at the age of 15, she was selected to participate in the European Under-17 Championship in the Czech Republic. The team was runner-up after losing in the final against Germany. In May 2018, she was once again part of the Spanish team to play the European Under-17 Championship in Lithuania. This time, as she was already one of the team's captains, the Spanish team won the title of champions after defeating Germany in the final.

At the end of that same year, the red team traveled to Uruguay to play in the U17 World Cup. The team was proclaimed world champion for the first time after beating Mexico in the final. She was one of the heroines of the championship after saving two penalties from the shootout in the semifinal that they played against Korea that ended in a draw. At the end of the tournament, she was awarded the gold glove, an award that accredits her as the best goalkeeper in the entire competition.

In January 2020, she was called up by the U19 team team to play the preparation matches for the Under-19 European Championship in Ireland. Due to COVID-19, UEFA announced that the tournament was cancelled.

In August 2018, she was the starting goalkeeper for the team that participated in the U20 World Cup in France. Coll was once again decisive during the tournament after saving a penalty in the semifinals against France. They were runners-up in the tournament after losing the final 1-3 against Japan.

She was named as part of Spain's national team for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. After several games on the bench, she made her first appearance for the national team at the tournament in a round of 16 games against Switzerland, which Spain won 5–1. She started in goal in the final against England, finishing the match with a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory to claim the title.

Honours

 * FC Barcelona
 * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2020–21, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Liga F: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Copa de la Reina: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2023–24
 * Supercopa de España: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24


 * Spain
 * FIFA Women's World Cup: 2023
 * UEFA Women's Nations League: 2023–24

Spain U20
 * FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup runner-up: 2018

Spain U17
 * FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: 2018

Individual
 * FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Golden Glove: 2018