Alex Morgan, a forward for the U.S. women’s national team and the San Diego Wave, announced that she will retire as she and her husband, Servando Carrasco, are expecting their second child. Morgan, 35, will play one final home game for the San Diego Wave against the North Carolina Courage on Sunday, she announced in a video she posted to her social media on Thursday.
“I am so clear about this decision and so excited to finally tell you,” Morgan said. “It’s been a long time coming and this decision has not been easy. At the beginning of 2024, I felt in my heart and soul that this would be the last season I would play football.”
“Football was a part of me for 30 years and one of the first things I ever loved. I gave everything to this sport and what I got in return was more than I could have ever imagined.”
Thank you very much🫶 pic.twitter.com/8BkofVOh3s
– Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) 5 September 2024
Morgan played her last game with the USWNT in June before the Olympics, a 3-0 win over South Korea in Minnesota. Coach Emma Hayes made headlines for leaving her off the Olympic roster, and Morgan stayed with the Wave through the summer.
Morgan joined the Wave in 2022 and previously played for Orlando Pride and Portland Thorns FC in the NWSL, as well as international stints with Lyon in 2017 and Tottenham during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Graphic: Jeff Rueter / The Athletic)
She will finish her career as a two-time World Champion with the USWNT in 2015 and 2019 and a two-time Olympic medalist (gold in 2012 and bronze in 2021). In her 224 appearances for the USWNT, she scored 123 goals – ninth on the all-time list for team appearances and the fifth most goals scored in program history.
Morgan made her breakthrough with the U-20 USA national team in 2008, when she was still at the beginning of her college career at the University of California, Berkeley. She made her debut for the senior national team in 2010 and played her first international match on March 31, 2010 against Mexico.
Morgan was the youngest member of the 2011 World Cup squad at 22, scoring her first goal of the famous competition in a 3-1 semifinal win before opening the scoring in the final against Japan. That performance made her a staple for the USWNT for over a decade and the natural successor to Abby Wambach at striker. Morgan also began her club career that year, starting a long nomadic saga with the Western New York Flash, playing for five teams between 2011 and 2017.
(Chart: Jeff Rueter / The Athletic)
Regardless of her club situation, Morgan remained loyal to the national team. She became the flagship of the program, winning the 2012 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year award and landing on the shortlist for FIFA World Player of the Year that same year. As for individual accolades, she will retire as a four-time CONCACAF Player of the Year, a six-time member of the FIFPro Women’s World 11, a 2022 NWSL Golden Boot winner and a member of the USWNT All-Time Best XI in 2013.
“I grew up on this team, it was so much more than soccer,” Morgan said in US Soccer’s official press release about her retirement. “It was the friendships and unwavering respect and support for one another, the tireless commitment to global investment in women’s sport 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 the development of this team and will forever be a USWNT fan. While my desire to succeed has always driven me, what I have received in return has been more than I could have ever asked for or hoped for.”
Baby horse.
AM13.
Alex Morgan.#ThanksAlex pic.twitter.com/d4o95QfsTe— United States Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) 5 September 2024
Morgan also made a major contribution off the field by leading the USWNT players’ fight for equal pay – she was one of the five players who signed the first complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, which began the long fight before the team sued US Soccer in 2019.
As important as that fight was, she also made a name for herself off the field in the NWSL by serving as a key witness for Mana Shim and later Sinead Farrelly when they officially declared The athlete in 2019 to share their stories of abuse they had endured in the NWSL. In addition to being public, Morgan was a key figure behind the scenes in pushing the league to better protect female players from harassment and other abuses of power.
She also released emails between Shim, Farrelly and then-commissioner Lisa Baird that proved the league knew the two players were trying to go public with additional information. “If we don’t absolutely fight for ourselves, we’re not going to get anything done,” Morgan said. The athlete in 2021.
Morgan was always ready to take on this fight and has made the game a better place by announcing her retirement on Thursday.
Required reading
(Photo: C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)
