Stephanie Catley

Fast Facts

Sport: Football
Event: Women's Football
Olympic History: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020
Coach: Tony Gustavsson
Year Born: 1994
State Born: VIC

About Stephanie

Stephanie Catley made her senior national team debut with the Matildas in 2012 when she was 18-years-old after spending three years with W-League team, Melbourne Victory.

Originally playing in midfield before converting to left-back, Catley's defensive prowess and leadership led to her becoming captain of Melbourne Victory and later, captain of three-time W-League champions, Melbourne City.

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Catley made all five starts at left-back for Australia and played all 450 minutes. She made 8 tackles and won them all. Catley also made 12 interceptions and won 13 duels and had a 72.4 percent accuracy for passing.

Catley went onto play for the Matildas during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. She appeared in all four games for the Matildas making three starts.

At Rio, the Matildas had the honour of being the first Aussies to compete, when they took on Canada two days before the Opening Ceremony in Sao Paolo. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the start the side wanted after they went down a goal in the opening minute and eventually lost 2-0.

The Aussies came out firing in their second match against Germany taking a two-goal lead before the Germans struck late in both halves to see the match end in a 2-2 draw. Needing a win in their final match to progress, the Aussies delivered that and more as they thrashed Zimbabwe 6-1 to set up a quarter-final clash with hosts Brazil.

After a tense 120 minutes of football, neither side could find the back of the net and the match went to penalties. Australia looked to have the upper hand when Brazil missed the first penalty but in front of 60,000 locals the home side claimed the shootout 7-6 to progress through to the final four.

Catley returned to Australia to captain Melbourne City from 2016-2018 while also playing for NWSL side, Reign FC. She was named vice-captain of the Matildas for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and in 2020, signed with WSL club, Arsenal.

Catley made her second Olympic appearance in Tokyo 2020, where Australia were drawn into a group with powerhouse teams Sweden, USA and New Zealand. Victory over NewZealand and a draw against USA saw Australia progress to the quarter-final stage of the tournament. 

Australia would further their medal hopes after defeating the United Kingdom 4-3 in a tense extra time affair advancing into the semi-finals. Unfortunatly, for the second time in the tournament they would fall to Sweden setting up a bronze place rematch against the United States were they would narrowly miss out on the medal.