World Top Ten Female Footballer at Aspetar Catarina Macario, U.S. footballer, tributes Aspetar’s facilities and professionalism  

The United States women's national football team and French club Lyon FC player Catarina Macario was greatly impressed by Aspetar facilities and the professionalism of Aspetar staff following a visit to the sports medicine hospital for a recent injury. Macario received comprehensive medical treatment at Aspetar for an injury she sustained while playing in Lyon FC’s final game of the season.

Endorsed by her teammates, Aspetar hospital was chosen as the right place for Macario’s injury treatment, she says: “I have some teammates that have come here before me, and they just always told me how amazing it was here - the facilities, the staff, and how professional they were. So, when I got injured, I knew that I had to come here, and I knew that I would get the best care. So, I'm very fortunate and happy to be here, to just be getting the right treatment that I need.”

Of her experience, Macario says: “Honestly, everyone has just said that Aspetar is amazing, and obviously I expected the best of the best, but I'd say that my expectations have been surpassed just in the sense that it's not just the facilities, but it's really the staff. They're incredible, and so I'm just thankful to be here.”

The U.S player praised Aspetar as a unique destination for treatment, adding:

I think it's unique in the sense that you can find everything here, like surgeons, pharmacy, like literally everything. You have everything under one roof, and that's very rare to find and it's also very rare to find such professional staff that are always in communication, no matter what department they're from, and you really feel like you're getting the best care no matter who you're seeing that day.

She continued:

There’s never any type of miscommunication or anything like that. Everyone knows exactly what you should be doing, and I feel like it's not everywhere in the world that you can find that.

As a result of her injury, Macario missed the USWNT's 2023 World Cup qualifying and Olympic qualifying matches, and the start of the 2022-23 season, however, she has no doubt that with the right support system, patience, and hard work, she will soon be back better than ever.

Long regarded as one of the Americas brightest hopes, 23-year-old Macario finished 9th of the 20 nominees for the last seasons annual best women’s footballer award. Commenting on this achievement, she said: “I’m very happy to have been recognised as a top ten nominee, I guess for the Balloon d’or, especially because it was my first professional year, and I hope that we can keep going up from here. First, I need to get healed, but I hope that I can just keep getting better and better every single year and hopefully one day take the big one.”

Catarina is preparing to be one of the stars of next year's Women's World Cup, but before that she is eagerly looking forward to the World Cup Qatar 2022, which is being held for the first time in the Middle East, especially as she is being treated just a few meters from one of the World Cup stadiums: “It's been tremendous to see the country prepare for such a big event. It looks beautiful, honestly, all the decorations and everything like that. So, I can't wait until everyone can see how great it's going to be. I will be supporting the United States, and my second team will be Brazil!”

About Aspetar:

Aspetar is a world-leading specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital and the first of its kind in the Middle East. Since 2007, with a world expert team, the hospital has provided top-level comprehensive medical treatment to all athletes in a state-of-the-art facility that sets new standards internationally.

In 2009, Aspetar was accredited as a “FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence” by F-MARC. In 2013, Aspetar was adopted as a reference collaborator centre by the Gulf Countries Council (GCC) Health Ministers Council and “The IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health” in 2014.