USA soccer legend Megan Rapinoe announces she will RETIRE at the end of the season 

Megan Rapinoe has announced her decision to retire from soccer at the end of the season, as she prepares to play in her fourth and final Women’s World Cup.

The 38-year-old announced the news at a press conference on Saturday, ahead of making her 200th appearance for the USWNT on Sunday against Wales.

‘This is going to be my last season, my last World Cup and my last NWSL season,’ she told reporters. ‘Obviously there will be more to come, further down the road, after hopefully we get done what we want to get done.

‘I just want to say thank you to everybody, to Vlatko [Andonovski, US head coach], to US Soccer, to everyone I’ve played with, all of my coaches. I could never have imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me.

‘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’s decision to hang up her boots comes just weeks after she spoke at a ceremony celebrating the jersey retirement of her partner Sue Bird at WNBA team Seattle Storm.

Rapinoe publicly came out in the July 2012 edition of Out magazine, when she was dating Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh, and she then began dating Bird in late 2016.

In 2018, they became the first same-sex couple on the cover of ESPN’s The Body Issue, and they got engaged in last 2020. 

Rapinoe has played soccer at club level for OL Reign for the past 10 years, making 102 appearances and scoring 50 goals.

She has already appeared at three Women’s World Cups, winning the last two in 2015 and 2019, and the US will look to three-peat in Rapinoe’s final tournament this month.

Elsewhere in her career, Rapinoe has won the French division with Lyon in 2013, three NWSL shields with OL Reign, an Olympic gold medal in 2012, and four SheBelieves Cups with the US in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

‘Megan Rapinoe is one of the most important players in women’s soccer history and a personality like no other,’ USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski said. 

‘She has produced so many memorable moments for her team and the fans on the field that will be remembered for a very long time, but her impact on people as a human being may be even more important. 

‘It’s been a wonderful experience to coach her in the NWSL and for the National Team and I’m looking forward to her being an important part of our team at the World Cup.’