Sydney Leroux stepping back from soccer to focus on mental health

On Saturday night, Sydney Leroux announced to her 1.1 million instagram followers that she would be taking a step back from professional soccer to focus on her mental health. Leroux, a forward for Angel City FC, wrote on Instagram that she owes it to herself and her children to “take a step back and take care of me.”

Photo courtesy of Instagram

The 34-year old Leroux has been a mainstay in professional women’s soccer for over a decade. Though she came up through the Canadian youth system, she opted to play for the United States women’s national U-20 team in 2012. Shortly after, she became a central piece of the USWNT, appearing with the national team for both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the latter of the two making her a world champion. She totaled 77 caps before phasing out of the national team around 2017.

On the club side, Leroux has played for a variety of US and Canadian teams for nearly fifteen seasons. Of the eight clubs for which she has suited up, three don’t even exist anymore — Seattle Sounders Women (2012), Boston Breakers (2013), and Western New York Flash (2015). Her most recent stint with Angel City FC started off with bad luck, as an ankle injury kept her sidelined for most of her first season in 2022 (also the club’s inaugural season). Since then, however, she’s become a central component of the Southern California club’s fabric. She made her 150th regular-season appearance for the National Women’s Soccer League in June 2024, and she is currently tied for 8th place with Angel City teammate Christen Press for all-time NWSL goals, with 48.

Leroux knows that her career is winding down. When she signed a new contract with Angel City in Oct. 2024, which will keep her at the club until 2027, she announced that this would be her “last go.” She’s planning to finish her professional career with Angel City. “My family and I are so excited to continue to be a part of Angel City and I promise to give my everything until the wheels fall off,” she told Goal.com around the time she signed her contract extension.

This type of dynamic, zesty language is something fans have come to expect from, and appreciate about Leroux, who for many years has allowed her Instagram account to be a portal into her personal life. On there, she frequently posts about her training, her children, Cassius and Roux, and her time outside of professional soccer, which she often spends with teammates and friends from the soccer world.

Leroux’s public voice is funny, but also forthright and honest. She likes to poke fun at her teammates and she isn’t afraid to laugh at herself. But she’s also spoken with various outlets about darker times in her life, like the miscarriage she suffered in the summer of 2018 and the time she spent away from soccer in order to recover. She posted a tweet in October of that year to honor Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and in that tweet she described her miscarriage and difficult recovery.

Leroux’s willingness to open up about issues relating to mental and physical health has gone beyond social media. She’s gone on the record countless times to talk about topics like fertility, motherhood, mental toughness, and women’s rights with outlets like Elle Magazine, PopSugar and others. She also went on DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu’s podcast in 2020, The Crack Podcast, to discuss former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis’s mistreatment of players. “She’s not good for people’s mental health, that’s for sure,” Leroux said on the show.

While further context behind Leroux’s decision to step away from soccer remains unknown, her decision is being greeted by both teammates and fans with grace. Former USWNT teammates like Crystal Dunn and Carli Lloyd commented supportive messages and hearts on her Instagram post, and current Angel City teammate and Australian national team star Alanna Kennedy sent love to her “work wifey.”

And, in classic Leroux fashion, she ended a serious post on a light note. “I know some of you can get a little carried away,” she wrote, “so I wanted to squash the pregnancy rumors right away.”