CHICAGO (September 5, 2024) – Alex Morgan, one of the most prolific goalscorers and winners in the history of the U.S. Women’s National Team and one of the most beloved soccer stars in the history of world soccer, has officially announced her retirement from professional soccer.
Morgan, who announced today that she is pregnant with her second child, will play one final professional game on Sunday, September 8, when the San Diego Wave takes on the North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.
“I grew up on this team, it was so much more than soccer,” said Morgan, who attended her first USWNT training camp in late 2009 at age 20. “It was the friendships and unwavering respect and support for one another, the tireless commitment to global investment in women’s sports and the defining moments of success both on and off the field. I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to loan the crest for more than 15 years. I have learned so much about myself during that time and so much of that is thanks to my teammates and our fans. I am incredibly proud of where this team is going and I will forever be a USWNT fan. My desire to succeed may have always driven me, but what I got in return was more than I could have ever asked for or hoped for.”
Morgan, 35, is coming off a legendary 15-year professional career in which she scored a multitude of key goals for the U.S. Women’s National Team and became one of the world’s most famous players thanks to her prolific goal-scoring prowess, dynamic personality, dedication to women’s sports and equality off the field and her nonstop winning streak. Her cultural impact on the women’s game is matched by only a select few in sports history and her inspiring interactions with her fans were unmatched.
She finished her USWNT career with 123 goals, which ranks fifth in all-time, and 53 assists, which ranks ninth in U.S. history. The U.S. record in games in which Morgan played is 177 wins, 15 losses, and 32 draws. She scored goals in 86 of her 224 international appearances (ninth in U.S. history), started 158 times, and captained the U.S. 23 times during that time. In the 86 games in which Morgan scored, the USWNT never lost, posting a record of 76 wins, 0 losses, and 10 draws.
Morgan’s total of 176 goals and assists ranks fifth in USWNT history, behind only Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd.
Since scoring her first career goal in 2010 (against the People’s Republic of China), Morgan has scored against 32 different countries, most of them against Japan (12 goals). She scored 10 goals against Canada, nine against Mexico, eight against New Zealand, seven each against France and Thailand, and six each against Costa Rica, Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago.
Morgan’s final game in a U.S. jersey was on June 4, 2024 against the Republic of Korea. Her last goal came on February 23, 2024 in the Concacaf W Gold Cup against Argentina. Fittingly, the goal was scored in Carson, California, just 40 miles from Diamond Bar, the Southern California native’s hometown.
Morgan’s penultimate goal for the USWNT came on February 20, 2024 against the Dominican Republic. It was her 27th goal for the USWNT as a substitute, nine more than any other player in team history.
Morgan finishes her international career third in U.S. history in two-goal games (23), behind only Wambach (37) and Hamm (28). Her 29 multi-goal games are also better than those of Wambach (45) and Hamm (38). Of Morgan’s 123 international goals, only five were penalties.
Early in her career, she was nicknamed “Baby Horse” for her blistering speed and nimble running style. She scored her first four goals for the USWNT in 2010 and soon grew out of the nickname as she became one of the most recognizable faces of the US team and the women’s game.
Morgan scored her first goal for the USWNT on March 31, 2010, but didn’t really come to prominence until November 20 of that year, when she scored in stoppage time of the Women’s World Cup playoff first leg in Padua against Italy, giving the USA a 1-0 victory and a decisive advantage heading back to Chicago for the second leg, which the USA won 1-0 to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
It was at this tournament in Germany that Morgan made her breakthrough on the international stage. She came on as a substitute in five of the six games and became the first U.S. player, along with Wambach, to score in a World Cup semifinal and final. The U.S. lost the World Cup final on penalties, but Morgan would go on to win more World Cups.
A year later at the 2012 Olympics, Morgan scored three goals with four assists and scored one of the most spectacular and important goals in U.S. history in the semifinals, scoring a header in the 123rd minute against Canada to give the U.S. a dramatic 4-3 victory. It remains to this day the latest goal ever scored at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In 2012, Morgan had one of the most successful years of any player in U.S. history, scoring a remarkable 28 goals and providing 21 assists. Mia Hamm is the only other U.S. player to have a year in which she scored at least 20 goals and provided at least 20 assists, a mark she achieved in 1998. Morgan’s goal total in 2012 was the third-highest in USWNT history in a calendar year, and her assist total was the second-highest in a year.
Morgan won the first of her two awards as U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 2012, and would go on to win again in 2018. She has been named to the FIFA FIFPRO World XI six times, the second most voted for by any player in history. She has finished second twice and third once in the FIFA Women’s Soccer Player of the Year voting. Morgan has been named Concacaf Soccer Player of the Year four times, including in 2013, when she won the first award.
Morgan played a key role in the United States winning two consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cups. She played in 13 of the 14 games in the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, scoring seven goals with four assists. In 2019, she scored a game-winning header in the semifinal against England, followed by her now-famous “sipping tea” celebration, and won a penalty in the World Cup final against the Netherlands that Megan Rapinoe converted to make it 1-0. She set a U.S. and World Cup record with five goals against Thailand in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup.
Morgan played in 22 World Cup games, scoring nine goals. She played in 16 Olympic Games, scoring six goals.
She scored one of the most important goals of 2022 when she converted a penalty to beat Canada 1-0 in the CONCACAF W Championship title game, helping the United States secure a berth at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris after previously securing a spot at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup during the tournament.
With her goal against Nigeria on September 3, 2022, she scored goals against teams from all six FIFA confederations, making her the 14th U.S. player to accomplish this feat.
In 2008, Morgan led the United States to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup title in Chile with a team coached by the legendary Tony DiCicco. Morgan scored four goals in the competition, including the winning goal in the World Cup final, a 2-1 win over Korea DPR. She won the Silver Ball as the tournament’s second-best player – behind teammate Sydney Leroux – and the Bronze Boot as the tournament’s third-best goalscorer.
Morgan gave birth to her first child, daughter Charlie, on May 7, 2020, and would return to play at the 2021 Olympics and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Morgan was the 14th mother to play for the USWNT, and with her goal against Brazil on February 22, 2023, she surpassed Joy Fawcett to become the USWNT’s all-time leading mother with 14 goals. She finished her career with 16 goals as a mother.
At the professional club level, Morgan was one of the pioneers of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), playing in every year of its existence. Her club career also included brief stints in Europe with Olympique Lyon in 2017, when she helped the club win the treble – league, French Cup and UEFA Champions League – and with Tottenham Hotspur in 2020. She began her NWSL career with the Portland Thorns (2013-2015), where she won the inaugural NWSL title, and then played for the Orlando Pride (2016-2021) before playing her final two and a half seasons with the San Diego Wave, for whom she scored 22 goals. She won the 2022 NWSL Golden Boot with 15 goals.
Morgan also played one season in the short-lived Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2011 WPS draft by the Western New York Flash. She helped the Flash win the WPS regular season and league titles that year.
Alexandra Patricia Morgan was born in San Dimas, California, and grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Diamond Bar, where she attended Diamond Bar High School. She joined Cypress Elite at age 14 and, despite suffering a torn ACL as a teenager, worked her way up to the U.S. Women’s Under-20 National Team while earning a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, where she scored 45 goals for the Golden Bears and was a four-time All-Pac-10 selection and First Team All-American.
In college, she met her future husband, Servando Carrasco, also a Cal soccer player who played in Major League Soccer for nine years. Morgan has appeared on the cover of numerous major magazines throughout her career, including Time, Adweek, Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids, and Glamour, to name a few. She is the best-selling author of a children’s book series and had a supporting role in the 2018 feature film “Alex and Me.”
In 2023, she founded the Alex Morgan Foundation to create equity and opportunity for girls and women on and off the field, with a focus on sporting equity and supporting mothers, another step in a long career of charity work, service and advocacy.
Her influence on and off the field will undoubtedly be felt for years to come.
