Marie-Antoinette Katoto-Cedar Herald Index

Marie-Antoinette Oda Katoto () (born 1 November 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. A youth academy graduate of Paris Saint-Germain, she became the club's all-time top scorer in February 2022 at the age of 23.

Club career

Katoto started her youth career with Colombes FFC in 2005. She joined Paris Saint-Germain Academy in 2011. She went on to score 27 goals from 26 matches for youth teams of the club and helped her side to win the Championnat de France National Féminine U19 title in 2016.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto

Katoto made her senior team debut on 26 April 2015 against VfL Wolfsburg in the second leg of 2014–15 UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals. She was given a league debut by manager Farid Benstiti during the following week's 5–0 win over Rodez. She played the whole 90 minutes and netted a goal.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto

Katoto scored 21 goals during 2017–18 Division 1 Féminine season, finishing as second highest goalscorer behind eventual Ballon d'Or Féminin winner Ada Hegerberg. On 31 May 2018, she helped her side to win the 2017–18 Coupe de France féminine final against six-time defending champions Lyon by scoring the only goal in the match.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto

On 5 February 2022, Katoto scored a brace in a league match against Guingamp and surpassed Marie-Laure Delie to become team's all-time top scorer. On 1 July 2022, she signed a contract extension with the club until June 2025.

International career

Youth

Katoto has represented France at different youth levels, accumulating 35 caps and 24 goals. She was part of French team which won the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. She finished the tournament as top scorer with six goals, and was selected as the best player. She was also part of the team which reached semi-finals of 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

Senior

Katoto made her senior team debut on 10 November 2018 in a 3–1 friendly win over Brazil. She came on as a substitute, replacing Delphine Cascarino at the 66th minute. She scored her first international goal on 19 January 2019 in a 3–1 friendly win over the United States. In the run up to the match, France's coach Corinne Diacre had publicly criticised the attitude and application of Katoto.

In May 2019, Diacre left Katoto out of the 23-player squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which was hosted by France. The decision caused widespread surprise as Katoto was the top scorer of French league previous season. Diacre however defended her decision by stating that: "It was a difficult choice, but I made it and I stand by it. It's certain that if we don’t win the World Cup, I will be reproached for it." Despite this, France were knocked out in quarter-finals by the United States, who went on to defend their title.

On 17 September 2021, Katoto scored her first hat-trick for national team in a 10–0 win against Greece. During France's group stage match against Belgium at UEFA Women's Euro 2022, Katoto suffered a "serious" knee injury that ruled her out for the rest of the competition. On 24 February 2023 she announced she would no longer play for the national team after captain Wendie Renard said she would step down to save her mental health. Katoto said she wanted changes to be made to the way the team was managed.