Alex Morgan, the generational soccer star who helped lead the U.S. to two FIFA Women's World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal, announced on social media that she will retire.
Morgan, 35, will make her final appearance as a professional soccer player on Sunday, when her NWSL team the San Diego Wave hosts the North Carolina Courage.
"It has been a long time coming, and this decision wasn't easy. But at the beginning of 2024, I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer," Morgan said in a video posted to her social media accounts.
"Soccer's been a part of me for 30 years. And it was one of the first things that I ever loved. And I gave everything to this sport and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of," she said.
Morgan received her first call from the U.S. women's national team in 2009, when she was a 20-year-old star player at the University of California, Berkeley. The next year, she scored her first four international goals, her speed and power earning her the nickname "Baby Horse."
For 15 years, Morgan was the face of American soccer, an icon whose skill on the field helped maintain the U.S. dominance in the sport. With her on the roster, the U.S. won the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup titles and the 2012 Olympic gold medal. Her 123 international goals is fifth most in U.S. history.
At the club level, she played for a handful of teams both in and out of the U.S., including six years with the Orlando Pride and three years each with the Portland Thorns and her current team, the San Diego Wave. She retires with the fourth-most career goals in league history.
In Thursday's video, Morgan recounted a recent conversation with her 4-year-old daughter, in which the girl told her mother that she hoped to one day become a soccer player.
"It made me immensely proud — not because I wish for her to become a soccer player when she grows up — but because a pathway exists that even a four-year-old can see now," Morgan said. "We're changing lives, and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible. I'm proud in the hand I had in making that happen."
Morgan also announced that she is pregnant with her second child.
The U.S. women's national team, fresh off a return to Olympic gold this summer at the Paris Olympics, is now in the hands of a new generation, led by stars like Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith.
"I feel immense pride in where this team is headed, and I will forever be a fan of the USWNT," Morgan said Thursday.
The U.S. women's national soccer team had struggled on the international stage after winning the 2019 Women's World Cup. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the team settled for a bronze medal. And at the 2023 World Cup, the team was eliminated in the Round of 16, its worst-ever result in a major international tournament. Early this year, the team dipped to fifth place in FIFA's international rankings, its lowest rank ever.
Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, Morgan was left off the Olympic roster — a decision national team coach Emma Hayes said then was "not easy."
"It was a tough decision, of course, especially considering Alex's history and record with this team. But I felt that I wanted to go in another direction and selected other players," Hayes said.
Copyright 2024 NPR
