U.S. soccer legend Megan Rapinoe is set to retire at the age of 38 at the conclusion of the 2023 NWSL season and following her participation in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with the U.S. national team.
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was her last major tournament as part of the USWNT. It ended in disappointment as the back-to-back world champions suffered defeat on penalties in the Round of 16 to Sweden, with Rapinoe missing during the shootout.
Rapinoe will conclude her soccer career with NWSL team OL Reign, who are in contention for a playoff spot in their quest for a first-ever NWSL championship title. The regular season concludes in October.
Before then, she will take part in a farewell match with the USWNT against South Africa.
The Sporting News runs through everything you need to know about Rapinoe's impending retirement.
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It is with a deep sense of peace & gratitude that I have decided this will be my final season playing this beautiful game. I never could have imagined the ways in which soccer would shape & change my life forever, but by the look on this little girl’s face, she knew all along. pic.twitter.com/XGZ1T9i7Wy
— Megan Rapinoe (@mPinoe) July 8, 2023
When is Megan Rapinoe retiring?
Megan Rapinoe will retire following the 2023 season. Following her final appearance at a World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, her last match for the USWNT will take place on September 24 against South Africa at Chicago's Soldier Field. It will be her 203rd and final game for her country. The match is part of a two-game series against South Africa, but with the first meeting just two days before Rapinoe's farewell game, it's unlikely she will be involved in both.
Rapinoe will then conclude her career in the U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Her Seattle-based NWSL club OL Reign will play its final regular season match in Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 15, with the final home game taking place a week before on Friday, Oct. 6 at Lumen Field.
If OL Reign advance to the NWSL playoffs, there could be more games as Rapinoe seeks her first NWSL championship. The post-season runs through mid-November, with the final at Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, on November 11 at 8 p.m. ET.
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Why is Megan Rapinoe retiring?
Rapinoe released a more detailed retirement announcement in a statement published by U.S. Soccer Federation:
I’ve been able to have such an incredible career, and this game has brought me all over the world and allowed me to meet so many amazing people. I feel incredibly grateful to have played as long as I have, to be as successful as we’ve been, and to have been a part of a generation of players who undoubtedly left the game better than they found it. To be able to play one last World Cup and one last NWSL season and go out on my own terms is incredibly special.
I want to thank my family for being by my side all these years. Thanks to all my teammates and coaches all the way back to my first days in Redding, on to college at the University of Portland and of course thanks to U.S. Soccer, the Seattle Reign and especially Sue, for everything. I will forever cherish the friendships and support over the years in this game, and I am beyond excited for one last ride with the national team and the Reign.
Rapinoe became an American sports icon for her talent on the field and for her social activism off it, becoming the first soccer player to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2022. She has used her platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality, and equal pay for women.
She also made headlines as the first white athlete to take a knee during the national anthem, in a show of support for former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who did the same to bring attention to police brutality and social injustice in the USA.
Rapinoe joined other U.S. women's national team members in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation in the fight for equal pay. That lawsuit resulted in a settlement, but the battle was ultimately won upon the ratification of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2022 that put the U.S. men and women on equal footing.
MORE: Explaining how U.S. women's soccer achieved equal pay
Megan Rapinoe USWNT soccer career
Rapinoe will forever be remembered for her accomplishments on the global stage with the U.S. women's national team, winning two World Cup trophies (2015 & 2019) and a gold (2012) and bronze (2021) medal at the Olympics.
She was the best player in the world in 2019, winning the 2019 World Cup MVP (Golden Ball) and Golden Boot as top scorer, the FIFA The Best award, and the 2019 Ballon d'Or (photo below) recognizing the best men's and women's players in the game.
Rapinoe coined an iconic goal celebration during that 2019 World Cup — a pose with both arms outstretched — as her tournament-leading six goals helped the USA to their fourth Women's World Cup title.
After passing 200 appearances for the USWNT in 2023 — becoming just the 14th player in U.S. soccer history to accomplish the feat — she was selected one of the 23 rostered players for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, over 17 years since she began her national team career back in July 2006. The tournament did not go to plan: she played 77 minutes across USA's four matches but didn't start a single game, and she missed a penalty in the Round of 16 shootout defeat to Sweden.
Ahead of her final match against South Africa, Rapinoe has registered 63 career goals — including nine scored at World Cup tournaments — and her 73 assists for the USA are tied for third all-time.
In the Olympics, she played a major part in both the gold medal (2012) and bronze medal (2021) won by the U.S. women's national team. She scored twice in the dramatic 2012 semifinal victory against Canada and scored another two goals in the 2021 bronze medal match against Australia, including an 'olimpico', a direct strike from a corner kick.
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Megan Rapinoe career trophies, titles and awards
- World Cup titles (2): 2015, 2019
- Olympic medals (2): 2012 (gold), 2021 (bronze)
- North American (CONCACAF) Women's Ch'ships (3): 2014, 2018, 2022
- She Believes Cup (4): 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023
- NWSL Shields (3): 2014, 2015, 2022
- French Division I Feminine (1): 2012-2013
- French Coupe de France Feminine (1): 2012-2013
- NCAA women's soccer national title (1): 2005
Rapinoe's successful career dates back to her college days, winning an NCAA title with the University of Portland as a freshman in 2005.
After college, Rapinoe played club soccer in the U.S. leagues that preceded the NWSL — the WPS and USL W-League — in addition to stints in Australia and Europe (with Olympique Lyon in 2013-2014).
She returned stateside to join the Reign for the club's inaugural season (2013) and has starred for the club over 11 seasons with 109 regular season appearances, 48 goals, and 25 assists.
Rapinoe has won three NWSL Shields with the Reign — a trophy awarded to the best regular season team — but the club has come up short of the elusive NWSL championship.
The Reign have fallen at the NWSL playoff semifinal stage on three occasions and lost the NWSL final in the team's only two appearances (2014 and 2015 to Kansas City).
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Where is Megan Rapinoe from?
Megan Rapinoe was born and grew up in Redding, Calif., a city about 200 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area, with her twin sister Rachael.
She played most of her youth club soccer for Elk Grove Pride and later attended the University of Portland with Rachael.
Rapinoe was an All-American with the Pilots and came back from two ACL surgeries in college — 2006, 2007, and an additional ACL injury following the 2015 World Cup — to have one of the most memorable careers in U.S. soccer history.
She is engaged to be married to women's basketball icon Sue Bird, who retired in 2022 after 21 seasons in the WNBA and a fifth and final Olympic gold medal with the USA in 2021.