Megan Rapinoe Declares Retirement From Soccer: ‘I Desired to Do It on My Own Terms’

Just at some point before Megan Rapinoe and her team boarded the plane to Latest Zealand for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup, the forward had an announcement to make: The 2023 season shall be her last—making her fourth trip to soccer’s biggest stage her final one, Rapinoe told reporters at a pregame press conference on July 8.

“I could have never imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me,” Rapinoe said on the conference. “I feel so honored to have the option to have represented this country and this federation for therefore a few years. It’s truly been the best thing I’ve ever done.”

The query of retirement was something she was interested by for “a protracted time”—since 2019, when the ultimate whistle blew in Lyon, France, and marked the US team’s fourth World Cup victory. It was, she admitted, something she had been “grappling with and fighting.”

But at first of the 2023 season—and after talking along with her partner, Sue Bird, about her own WNBA retirement in 2022—the reply progressively became clearer. A lot so, actually, that she opened her statement by describing her “really deep sense of peace and gratitude and excitement” about her decision.

“I desired to do it before the World Cup; I desired to do it alone terms. I did wish to do it in my very own way, and be certain that it was something that felt good for me and felt good for the people around me,” Rapinoe said on the conference. “But ultimately, it’s my profession, it’s my words to say, and I desired to be certain that I had the moment to take time to say what I desired to say.”

The agency that got here with Rapinoe’s announcement is especially fitting, since she’s spent her profession giving voice to issues that transcend the pitch. Over her 17 years representing Team USA in soccer, Rapinoe has been a vocal advocate in the fight for equal pay, LGBTQ+ rights, trans inclusion in sports, and racial equality. In 2016, she was the primary white athlete and first female athlete to take a knee through the national anthem to indicate solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, in keeping with US Soccer.

On the pitch, Rapinoe’s been just as prolific. A 3-time Olympian, Rapinoe won gold within the 2012 London Games, and through Team USA’s bronze-earning match in Tokyo, she became the primary US Women’s National Team (USWNT) player in history to attain multiple goal in multiple Olympic games. Now, with two World Cup victories under her belt, she’s headed to her fourth competition rating in the highest 10 in USWNT history in each goals and assists.

While her role within the 2023 World Cup could also be different than in previous years—she’s likely going from starter to squad player, in keeping with Reuters—Rapinoe is targeted on bringing her best to the international competition despite a recent lower leg injury. Within the press conference, she described it as feeling like “somewhat little bit of borrowed time.”