Video: Watch Alex Morgan Tearfully Announce Retirement From Soccer

U.S. women’s soccer star Alex Morgan announced this week that she will be retiring from the sport in a tearful video posted on social media.

“I’m gonna get to the point quickly. I’m retiring, and I have so much clarity about this decision, and I am so happy to be able to happy to be able to tell you. It has been a long time coming, and this decision wasn’t easy, but at the beginning of 2024, I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer,” Morgan said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

“Success for me is defined by never giving up and giving your all, and I did just that. I’m giving my all every single day on the field, and I did that—giving my all in the relentless push for global investment in women’s sports, because we deserve that,” she added.

As the video continued, Morgan appeared to begin to tear up as she made another announcement of her own pregnancy.

“I am pregnant and as unexpected as this came, we are so overjoyed. To me, family means everything. I wouldn’t be here without my husband and my family, uplifting, motivating and encouraging and supporting me and sacrificing for me for the last 15 years as a professional athlete,” she said.

Morgan also said in the video that this upcoming Sunday, September 8, will be her final game on the soccer pitch, as a member of the San Diego Wave FC, in a game against the North Carolina Courage.

In the retirement announcement video, Morgan also spoke about her daughter, Charlie, saying that she came up to her and told her she also wants to be a soccer player.

“And it just made me immensely proud, not because I wish for her to become a soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a four-year-old can see now,” Morgan said. “We’re changing lives, and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible. And I’m proud in the hand I had in making that happen, in pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of.”

The 35-year-old Morgan is a two-time World Cup champion with the U.S. women’s national team and has also won a gold medal in the Olympics. Morgan previously practiced with the U.S. women’s national team in the spring but did not secure a spot on the team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.