Soccer legend Alex Morgan announced her retirement from professional soccer on Thursday.
Morgan, a two-time Women’s World Cup champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, has decided to call it quits after a legendary career with the U.S. women’s national team. The 35-year-old bows out with 123 career international goals and 53 career international assists, good for fifth-most and ninth-most in USWNT history, respectively.
Morgan has also enjoyed a successful club career both abroad and stateside. In the NWSL, she won the league title with the Portland Thorns in 2013 and currently plays for the San Diego Wave.
Morgan shared an emotional video on her social media in which she teared up while explaining her decision to retire.
“I’m going to get to the point quickly,” Morgan said. “I’m retiring. I have so much clarity about this decision, and I am 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.
“Soccer has been a part of me for 30 years, and 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 I could ever dream of. Success for me is defined by never giving up and giving your all, and I did just that… I’m proud in the hand I had in pushing the game forward, in leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of.”
Thank you🫶 pic.twitter.com/8BkofVOh3s
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) September 5, 2024
Morgan also revealed that she is pregnant and expecting her second child.
“This is also not the retirement video I expected when I initially thought I was going to do this,” Morgan continued. “Because Charlie’s going to be a big sister. I am pregnant. And as unexpected as this came, we are so overjoyed.”
Morgan and her husband, Servando Carrasco, have been married for 10 years and share one daughter, Charlie.
Morgan will lace up one final time on Sunday when the Wave take on the North Carolina Courage in a home game.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as USWNT Legend Alex Morgan Announces Her Retirement in Emotional Video.
