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Photo Copyright Michael Chow for USA TODAY Sports
After 14 years, U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan announced on Thursday that she is retiring from professional soccer.
Her final game will take place on Sunday, Sept. 8th when the San Diego Wave face the North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
The former USWNT co-captain and one of the team’s top goalscorers, she will play her final game on Sunday. She retires fifth on the USWNT goalscoring list with 123 goals in 223 international appearances.
Her last game in a USWNT jersey came this past June, when the team took on Korea Republic in a pair of international friendlies.
“I grew up on this team, it was so much more than soccer,” Morgan said in a statement released by the USWNT. “It was the friendships and the unwavering respect and support among each other, the relentless push for global investment in women’s sports, and the pivotal moments of success both on and off the field. I am so incredibly honored to have borrowed the crest for more than 15 years. I learned so much about myself in that time and so much of that is a credit to my teammates and our fans.
“I feel immense pride in where this team is headed, and I will forever be a fan of the USWNT.”
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In a video posted on social media, Morgan said that she had made the decision to retire prior to the 2024 season, before revealing that the timeline shifted when she realized she was pregnant with her second child.
“I have so much clarity about this decision,” she said. “And I’m so happy to be able to finally tell you. 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 has played in a number of pro leagues, from the National Women’s Soccer League to the Women’s Super League and the now-defunct United Women’s Soccer League and Women’s Professional Soccer League. She began her NWSL career with the Portland Thorns in 2013 before joining the Orlando Pride from 2016 through 2021, with stints at Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 and 2020, respectively.
She spent the last two seasons in her hometown of San Diego with the Wave, joining the team as its first player in 2022. In 45 appearances for San Diego, she scored 22 goals, including winning the NWSL Golden Boot in 2022.
She’s won championships in every stage of the women’s game, from the NWSL Championship in 2013 with Portland, to the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2017 with Lyon. She also won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal with the USWNT.
A two-time U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and two-time finalist for Best FIFA Women’s Player, Morgan retires as undoubtedly one of the best to have ever suited up for the USWNT.
In her retirement announcement, Morgan said that soccer is “one of the first things that I’ve ever loved.”
“I gave everything to this sport,” she said. “What I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”
In 2020, Morgan gave birth to a daughter, Charlie, alongside her husband Servando Carrasco. Since then, Morgan’s firstborn has been a frequenter of NWSL and USWNT sidelines, watching as her mom starred on the world stage.
“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up and wants to be a soccer player,” she said. “And it just 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.
“We’re changing lives and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible and I’m proud in the hand I had in making that happen and pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of.”
