Alex Morgan, one of the most prolific goalscorers and well-known soccer stars in the world, announced her retirement from professional soccer on Thursday.
Morgan, a 35-year-old striker for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, posted an emotional four-plus minute video on social media to state her last match will be this weekend against the North Carolina Courage.
Morgan also revealed she was pregnant with her second child during the video.
“Soccer has been a part of me for 30 years. It was one of the first things that I ever loved. And I gave everything to this sport. What I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of,” Morgan said.
Suiting up for the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), Morgan is a two-time World Cup champion and won an Olympic gold medal in 2012.
“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 in pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of,” she said.
She scored 123 goals for the US – ranking her fifth on the all-time USWNT list.
“Charlie [Morgan’s daughter] came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up, she wants to be a soccer player and it just made me like 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 four-year-old can see now,” Morgan said.