Alex Morgan, two-time world football champion and Olympic gold medallist, is retiring from professional football.
With two FIFA Women's World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal to her name, Alex Morgan retires from professional soccer as one of the U.S. national team's most prolific scorers and as someone who helped lead the fight for equal pay.
Morgan, 35, who said she is pregnant with her second child, made the announcement Thursday in a social media post. At points in the emotional message, Morgan was on the verge of tears.
“This decision was not an easy one, but at the beginning of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season I would play football,” he said. “Football has been a part of me for 30 years and it was one of the first things I loved. I gave everything for this sport and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”
Morgan will play her final match with her club team, the San Diego Wave of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), on Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, USA.
Alex Morgan, two-time Women's World Champion and 2012 Olympic gold medallist, announces her retirement from professional football.#ThanksAlex
— United States women's national soccer team (@USWNT) September 5, 2024
Throughout a 15-year career with the U.S. national team, Morgan made an impact on and off the field, fighting for equal pay and speaking out on social justice issues.
In addition to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, Morgan also won a gold medal with the United States at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Games. She first joined the national team in 2009.
Morgan earned 224 caps for the national team (ninth all-time), scored 123 goals (fifth all-time) and provided 53 assists (ninth all-time). She was named U.S. Women's Soccer Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018.
Her last game for the United States was on June 4, 2024, against South Korea. She was not on the list of players who won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Morgan was among five players who filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016 alleging pay discrimination. The players sued U.S. Soccer in 2019, citing unequal pay and treatment compared to the men's national team. The suit was settled and in 2022 the parties agreed to collective bargaining agreements that pay both teams equally.
“For me, success is defined by never giving up and giving it your all, and that’s exactly what I did,” Morgan said. “I give it my all every day on the field and I did it by giving it my all in the tireless effort to invest in women’s sports, because we deserve it.”
Morgan has played for the San Diego Wave since 2022. She also played for the Portland Thorns and Orlando Pride during her NWSL career. In 2022, she was the league's Golden Boot winner for most goals. She also played internationally for Lyon and Tottenham.
Morgan and her husband Servando Carrasco have a daughter, Charlie, who was born in 2020.
“The other day Charlie came up to me and said that when she grows up, she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said. “I was immensely proud, not because I want her to be a soccer player when she grows up, but because there is a path that even a four-year-old can see now. We are changing lives and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I am proud of the contribution I had in making that happen, in taking the game forward and leaving it in a place that I am so happy and proud of.”
