Alex Morgan is retiring from pro soccer and is also pregnant with her second child with husband, Servando Carrasco, she announced in an emotional video she posted on X on Thursday. The 35-year-old athlete is one of the most recognizable faces in women's soccer and has had a storybook career.
"I'm gonna get to the point quickly. I'm retiring, and I have so much clarity about this decision, and I'm so happy to be able to finally tell you," Morgan said in the video, visibly fighting back tears. "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. Soccer has been a part of me for 30 years, and it was one of the first things that I ever loved, and I gave everything to this sport, and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of."
She then shared she was pregnant with her second child. Morgan and Carrasco -- also a professional soccer player -- are already parents to their 4-year-old daughter, Charlie, whom they welcomed in May 2020.
"This is also not the retirement video I expected when I initially thought I was going to do this because Charlie is going to be a big sister. I am pregnant," she said. "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 and motivating and encouraging and supporting me and sacrificing for me for the last 15 years as a professional athlete."
Thank you🫶 pic.twitter.com/8BkofVOh3s
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) September 5, 2024
Morgan won a gold medal with the United States at the 2012 London Olympics. She also won World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019. But aside from her success on the field, Morgan was notably outspoken about fighting for equal pay. She was among the players who sued U.S. Soccer in 2019 for gender discrimination, citing inequitable pay and treatment compared to the men's national team. In her video on Thursday, Morgan tearfully reflected on the impact that's had, noting that her daughter Charlie told her she wants to be a professional soccer player.
"It just made me immensely proud, not because I wish for her to be a soccer player when she grows up, but that a pathway exists that even a 4-year-old can see now," she 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 and pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I am so happy and proud of."
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