Alex Morgan: US soccer icon announces retirement from the sport

CNN
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Alex Morgan, one of the world’s most successful goalscorers and most famous football stars, announced her retirement from professional football on Thursday.

Morgan, a 35-year-old striker for the San Diego Wave of the NWSL, posted an emotional four-minute video on social media announcing that her final game will be this weekend against the North Carolina Courage.

Morgan also announced in the video that she was pregnant with her second child.

“Football has been a part of me for 30 years. It was one of the first things I ever loved. And I gave everything to this sport. What I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of,” Morgan said.

Morgan plays for the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), is a two-time world champion and won an Olympic gold medal in 2012.

“We are changing lives and the impact we are having on the next generation is irreversible. I am proud of my role in moving the game forward and bringing it to a place that I am so happy and proud of,” she said.

She scored 123 goals for the USA, placing her fifth on the USWNT all-time list.

“Charlie (Morgan’s daughter) came to me the other day and said she wants to be a soccer player when she grows up. That made me incredibly proud, not because I want her to be a soccer player when she grows up, but because there is a path that even a four-year-old can see right now,” Morgan said.