Alex Morgan Retires as a Two-Time World Cup Winner and Olympic Champion

Alex Morgan, one of the biggest names in women's football, has announced her retirement. The two-time World Cup winner and Olympic champion revealed on Thursday, September 5 that she is expecting her second child and will play her final match for San Diego Wave this Sunday, September 8.

The 35-year-old won the World Cup with the United States in 2015 and 2019, scored in the run to Olympic gold at London 2012, and retires with 123 goals in 224 internationals, the fifth-highest total of all time, Great Vegan Athletes reports. Her 60 NWSL goals rank fourth in the league's history, according to her career record.

She told ESPN how she hopes to be remembered:

I hope my legacy is that I pushed the game forward, that I helped gain respect for the women’s game, that I increased the value and the investment in the women’s game, that I helped players.

Morgan switched to a plant-based diet in 2017, shortly after appearing in a PETA campaign with her rescue dog, Blue. “I’m passionate about giving animals a voice,” she said. “I even adopted a vegan diet, because it didn’t feel fair to have a dog I adore, and yet eat meat all the time.” The decision was ethical, but she also credited plants for keeping her fit. Having been prone to injury earlier in her career, she told the Hurdle podcast she hadn't had a serious injury since the switch and felt she had "great energy" and was "sleeping really well". She has been flexible about it since: during her first pregnancy in 2019 she told USA Today she had been eating more vegetarian food while sticking primarily to plants.

She was plant-powered for some of her biggest moments. In 2018 she took the Golden Boot at the CONCACAF Championship, a year later she won the World Cup and the Silver Boot, and in 2021 she won Olympic bronze in Tokyo. In 2022 she won the NWSL Golden Boot.

Thank you, Alex.