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Alex Morgan Tears Up During Retirement, Pregnancy Announcements

The Olympic athlete will hang up her soccer jersey after one final match on Sunday, Sept. 8.

Martha Zaytoun

Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan / Brad Smith/Getty Images

After 13 years of professional play, Alex Morgan is standing on the precipice of retirement. In an emotional Instagram post on Sept. 4, the soccer star announced that she will be playing in her final professional match on Sunday, Sept. 8.

“I have so much clarity about this decision, and I’m so happy to be able to finally tell you,” Morgan explained in the video. “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.”

Throughout her professional career, Morgan established herself as a standout player on the field. In her red, white and blue uniform, she helped the USWNT to two FIFA World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal. As a member of the NWSL, she helped her first squad, the Portland Thorns FC, to the inaugural championship title in 2013, and—in recent years—has helped to establish theSan Diego Wave FC from the ground up. Or, as she put it, “I gave everything to this sport, and what I got in return was more than what I could have ever dreamed of.”

Morgan leaves the sport—and women’s sports, more generally—better than she found it. As a cofounder of TOGETHXR, she has established herself as an outspoken advocate for female athletes everywhere. Her impact can be felt both across the sporting world and right at home, too. “Charlie came up to me the other day and said when she grows up she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said of her young daughter. “It just made me like immensely proud ... because a pathway [to professional athletics] exists that even a 4-year-old can see now.”

With one ending comes a new beginning, too. In the video, Morgan announced that she is expecting her second child with husband Servando Carrasco.

This Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Morgan will take the pitch at Snapdragon Stadium in California one last time as San Diego Wave FC take on the North Carolina Courage.

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Martha Zaytoun

MARTHA ZAYTOUN

Martha Zaytoun is a writer on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit in 2023, she worked on the editorial board of the University of Notre Dame’s student magazine and on the editorial team at Chapel Hill, Durham and Chatham Magazines in North Carolina. When not working, Zaytoun loves to watercolor and oil paint, run and water ski. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a huge Fighting Irish fan.

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