Top female soccer player Alex Morgan has announced her retirement from the sport in a mournful post on social media. In a four-minute video, the 35-year-old player explains her reasons for why she is retiring from the United States women’s national team (USWNT) and when her last game with the San Diego Wave FC will be. Here’s an explanation behind her decision to retire in 2024.
Why is Alex Morgan retiring?
Alex Morgan is retiring because she is pregnant with her second child. While she said that “this decision wasn’t easy” in her video response, she has “clarity about the decision.”
Many soccer players, female or male, tend to retire in their mid-30s, as noted by ESPN.
Morgan also revealed that her last game with the San Diego Wave FC will be on Sunday, September 8, when they host a game against the North Carolina Courage.
With an incredible career on the field, Morgan famously scored the match-winning goal during the 2012 London Olympics against Canada to win an Olympic gold medal. She also lead the women’s national team to two FIFA World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
While she was not named to part of the women’s US soccer team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they won the gold medal over Brazil, Morgan was a part of the team that won the inaugural CONCACAF W Gold Cup in 2024.
As for records, she has scored 123 goals in 224 caps, putting her fifth in USWNT history. Time also named her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2022 and 2019.
With her husband Servando Carrasco, a former professional soccer player with the LA Galaxy, Morgan has one child named Charlie. Their daughter was born on May 7, 2019. It’s unclear how far along Alex Morgan is with her second pregnancy, but it would seem far enough along that she has decided to retire for the well-being of the baby.
Alex Morgan is one of the executive producers for an upcoming CBS miniseries called Summer of Gold, which celebrates American female athletes during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. She was also interviewed for Netflix’s soccer documentary Under Pressure released in December 2023.
