SAN DIEGO – U.S. Women’s National Team legend Alex Morgan is retiring from professional soccer, she announced on social media Thursday.
The striker and Olympic gold medalist will play her final game on Sunday when Major League Soccer’s San Diego Wave FC hosts the North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium.
Morgan, 35, also announced in her retirement video that she is pregnant and expecting her second child.
“I am retiring. I am completely clear about this decision,” Morgan said. “It has been a long time coming and this decision has not been easy, but at the start of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this would be the last season I would play football. Football has been a part of me for 30 years. It was one of the first things I ever loved. I have given this sport everything and what I have gotten in return is more than I could have ever imagined.”
Morgan finishes her career as one of the most decorated U.S. soccer players of all time. She finishes her UWSNT career with 123 goals, which ranks fifth all-time according to US Soccer, and 53 assists, which ranks ninth in U.S. history. Her total of 176 goals and assists ranks fifth in USWNT history behind Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd.
Morgan started 158 times in 224 games for the USWNT, recording 177 wins, 15 losses and 32 draws in the games she played. She scored goals in 86 games, with the U.S. remaining undefeated in those games with a record of 76-0-10.
The three-time Olympian competed in 16 Olympic Games, scoring six goals and helping the USWNT win the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. That same year, Morgan was named U.S. Soccer Player of the Year, an award she won again in 2018.
Morgan also appeared in 22 FIFA World Cup matches, scoring nine goals and helping the USWNT to back-to-back World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019. Her final game in a U.S. uniform was against Korea Republic on June 4, 2024.
Off the field, Morgan has been a vocal advocate for the USWNT’s equality in women’s sports, including equal pay as the men’s national team. In 2019, Morgan and other U.S. soccer stars, including Megan Rapinoe, sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for gender discrimination, citing unequal pay. The USSF settled in 2022 for $24 million.
“I think an important part of that was to equalize not only the money but the World Cup bonuses and to work with US Soccer and the Men’s Players Association to find a way to equalize that prize money going forward,” Morgan said after the agreement. “This is a huge step and repairing the relationship with US Soccer is a big part of it as well and we feel very comfortable and happy and proud with the moment that we’ve reached now because it’s a huge victory for us, for women’s sport, for women in general, and it’s a moment that we can all celebrate now.”
In her retirement video, Morgan said her four-year-old daughter Charlie told her she wants to be a soccer player when she grows up.
“And it just made me so proud, not because I want her to grow up to be a football player, but because there’s a path that even a four-year-old can see right now,” Morgan said. “We’re changing lives and the impact we’re having on the next generation is irreversible.”
