American forward Alex Morgan has announced that she is pregnant with her second child and is retiring from professional soccer after a career in which she was twice crowned world champion and won an Olympic gold medal.
Over the course of 15 years with the national team, Morgan not only excelled on the field, but was an important voice in the team’s fight for equal pay as well as social justice causes.
She could barely hold back her tears in a video she posted on social media.
“This decision was not an easy one, but at the beginning of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this was going to be my last season,” he said. “Football has been with me for 30 years, and it was one of the first things I treasured. I have given everything to this sport and what I received in return exceeded anything I could have dreamed of.”
Morgan, 35, will play her final game with her club, the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, on Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium.
In addition to winning world titles in 2015 and 2019, Morgan also won Olympic gold with the United States at the 2012 London Games. She made her debut with the national team in 2009.
He made 224 appearances for the national team — the ninth-most in history — and scored 123 goals (the fifth-most) and provided 53 assists (ninth in the all-time table).
“I grew up with this team, which went beyond football,” Morgan said in a statement. “It was the friendships, the unrestricted respect and solidarity between everyone, the tireless commitment to investing in women’s sports, and momentous moments of success on and off the field.”
Morgan was twice named the best female player in the United States.
One of his most memorable goals came at London 2012, when he scored in overtime against Canada to send the United States to the Olympic final. A year earlier, he scored in the World Cup final against Japan.
At the 2019 World Cup, Morgan scored the decisive goal in the 2-1 semi-final win over England and celebrated by pretending to drink tea.
Her last game for the United States was on June 4, 2024, against South Korea. She was not named to the squad that won gold at the Paris Olympics.
Morgan has a daughter, Charlie, who was born in 2020.
