USWNT legend Alex Morgan announces her retirement

Women’s soccer legend Alex Morgan announced on Thursday that she is retiring from soccer.

In a video posted on X, the 35-year-old Morgan said that she is pregnant with her second child and that her final game will be on Sunday, Sept. 8, when the NWSL’s San Diego Wave face the North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium.

“I have so much clarity about this decision and am so happy to finally tell you,” said an emotional Morgan, who added that she began feeling this would be her final season at the start of 2024. “It has been a long time coming and this decision wasn’t easy.”

Morgan’s impact on next generation of women’s players

Morgan has seen how much the women’s game has grown throughout her career, internationally and on the club level. Even at home, with her daughter Charlie, the impact of this generation of women’s players is on display.

“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said. “It 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 4-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.”

Morgan played for a number of professional clubs over her career, including three stints with the Orlando Pride, as well as French side Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur of the FA Women’s Super League in England.

Internationally, she has the fifth-most appearances in USWNT history with 224 and is eighth all-time in the women’s game with 123 goals. She made her national team debut in 2010.

“Soccer’s been a part of me for 30 years,” Morgan said. “It was one of the first things that I ever loved and I gave everything to this sport and what I got in return was more than anything I could have ever dreamed of.”