Legendary U.S. soccer player Alex Morgan announced her retirement from the beautiful sport on Thursday, Sept. 5, after a long and illustrious career playing in the National Women’s Soccer League and the U.S. women’s national team. She also announced she’s pregnant with her second child.

“I’m retiring and I have so much clarity about this decision,” said Morgan. “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 I would play soccer.”

Her final match will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, as the San Diego Wave takes on the North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium.

The 35-year-old striker, and native of San Dimas, began her club career in 2011 with the Western New York Flash of Women’s Professional Soccer. She played in 14 matches helping lead the Flash to the regular season title and the WPS championship.

Morgan then went on to join her team U.S. teammates Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux, Megan Rapinoe, and Stephanie Cox on the Seattle Sounders for the 2012 season before signing with the Portland Thorns, where she was one of three U.S. national team players to join that team for the NWSL’s inaugural season in which they ended up winning the championship.

Morgan signed with the San Diego Wave on Dec. 13, 2021, after playing with the Orlando Pride for five seasons, including a short interval playing at Tottenham in 2020. The terms were revealed three days later following the opening of the trade window with Orlando receiving a record $275,000 in allocation money and Angharad James in return.

Morgan won the NWSL Golden Boot with the Wave after scoring 15 goals in 2022 helping lead the team to the semifinal round and followed that up by helping San Diego win the Supporters’ Shield along with a second trip to the semifinals in 2023.

She debuted with the national team in 2010 and scored 123 goals with 53 assists in her 224 appearances with the Stars and Stripes. The national team had 177 wins, 15 losses, and 32 draws record in the matches she played. Morgan also helped the US women win the World Cup in 2015 and 2019.

Photos by David Frerker