The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will serve as her final major tournament with the U.S.
(July 8, 2023) – CHICAGO: Megan Rapinoe, among the most famous soccer players and figures in the game’s history, has said that she will stop playing professionally after the National Women’s Soccer League season in 2023.
She is noted for her amazing abilities on the field, her creative goal-scoring, and her clutch performances in some of the biggest games of her career. She is also known for her deep care and support for a wide range of social issues, such as LGBTQ+ rights, racial injustice, citizen rights, and gender as well as pay equity. She leaves the game as one of the most influential figures in the development of soccer in the United States and in the women’s game around the world.
Rapinoe told the world he was gay in July 2012, and since then he has been a vocal and visible champion for gay rights. She was also the initial white athlete and the first woman to sit during the national anthem to show support for Colin Kaepernick, a football player.
She will play in her last World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand. She will conclude her remarkable soccer career by finishing the 2023 NWSL season with her over time club, OL Reign.
Rapinoe stated, “I’ve been able to have like a great career. This game has taken me all over the world and introduced me to so many wonderful people.” “I’m very thankful to have played for as long as I have, to have had as much success as we have, and to have been part of a group of players who made the game better than it was when they came. It’s a dream come true to be able to play in one last World Cup and one last NWSL season and go out on my own terms.
“I’d like to acknowledge everyone in my family for regularly being there for me. Thanks to all my friends and teachers, from my early days in Redding to college at the University of Portland, and thanks to U.S. Soccer, the Seattle Reign, and especially Sue, for everything. I will never forget the bonds and support I’ve gotten from playing this game over the years, and I can’t wait for one last ride with the National Team and the Reign.”
Rapinoe, now 38, made her first international game against the Republic of Ireland in San Diego in July 2006, a few weeks after she turned 21. On October 1, 2006, she got her first two goals for her country against Chinese Taipei at what is now called the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
She has played for her country for 17 years and has 199 caps so far. Soon, she will become the 14th U.S. player in history to hit 200 games.
Rapinoe is getting ready to play in her fourth Women’s World Cup. She has played for the United States in 2011 in Germany, in 2015 in Canada, and in 2019 in France. She is famous for helping the USA win the last two World Cups. She also played in the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Thailand in 2004, as well as the 2012, 2016, and 2021 Olympic Games, where she won a gold medal.
So far, in her 199 caps for the USA, they have a record of 157-14-28, which is 86% wins. She has played for the United States in three different decades and has 63 goals and 73 helpers in her career.
Rapinoe is tied with Abby Wambach for 3rd place all-time in assists for the USWNT. She is also one of only seven players in USWNT history to have scored at least 50 goals and given out at least 50 assists. She is the only player in the 50-goal/50-assist club who has had more assists than goals over the course of her career.
She has already played in 17 World Cup games and scored nine goals. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be her last. She took part in 14 games at the Olympics and scored five goals. She has played in 199 games and started 142 of them. The other 57 times, she came off the bench. She has also been team captain for 15 games, which is the same number as her longtime shirt.
Rapinoe played for the USWNT under five different head coaches, and she scored goals for all of them.
“Megan Rapinoe has been one of the most significant players in the entire history of women’s soccer, and she has a personality like no other,” claimed Vlatko Andonovski, the head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team. “She has done a lot of things on the field that will be remembered for a long time by her team and fans, but her effect on people as a person may be even more important. It’s been a pleasure to teach her in the NWSL and for the National Team, and I look forward to her getting a vital component of our team at the World Cup.
Rapinoe had an amazing year in 2019. She won many important awards, such as the Outstanding FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, the France Football Ballon d’Or, and the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year. She got the Golden Ball for being the best player at the World Cup and the Golden Boot for scoring the most goals with six. Her goal from the penalty spot in the World Cup Final was her 50th goal overall. After she scored a few goals, her “Are you not entertained?” pose became iconic and replicated across the world.
In the quarterfinals of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, Wambach headed in her long pass in the last seconds of overtime to send the game to a penalty shootout, where she scored and helped the USA win. This was one of her many great moments.
Long before “the pose,” Rapinoe was one of the few players who celebrated goals with more joy than anyone else. She scored a long-range goal against Colombia in the group stage of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She then ran to the corner, grabbed the TV microphone, and sang “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen.
At the 2012 Olympics, she helped her team beat Canada 4-3 in a thrilling playoff game. Both of her goals were amazing.
Rapinoe scored the game-winning penalty kick on the fourth try for the USA against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Olympics. This sent her team to the semifinals.
In the bronze medal game, she had a great game. She scored two great goals, one right off a corner kick, which helped the USA beat Australia 4-3 and win the bronze title.
Rapinoe scored “Olimpicos,” which are goals right off corner kicks, in both the 2012 and 2021 Olympics. This is a rare feat that is unlikely to happen again.
She is also one of only 18 USWNT players who have played more than 11,000 minutes in a U.S. jersey.
On July 1, 2022, it was reported that President Joe Biden had chosen Rapinoe to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the greatest citizen honor in the country. On July 7, 2022, she got the award at the White House. Rapinoe is the first soccer player to win the award, and she is one of only six female athletes or coaches to do so.
“Megan is one of the best players of her generation,” said USWNT general manager Kate Markgraf, whose international career ran parallel to Rapinoe’s for four years. “When it comes to the best U.S. Women’s National Team players who have ever played on big stages, she is right up there with the best. And that’s only what she did on the field. Her work away from the field is a great example of someone who knew she had a big voice and used it for good.
She is one of the few NWSL players who also played in the WPS, the second version of women’s professional soccer in the US. She has spent her entire 11-year NWSL career with the Reign, where she has scored 48 goals and given out 25 assists, which puts her sixth in the league’s history. She also spent 2013 and 2014 with Olympique Lyon in France.
Megan Anna Rapinoe was born and raised in Redding, California, a small city about 200 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area. She and her twin sister Rachael did well in many sports, including high school basketball. She played soccer for Elk Grove for most of her school club years. She went to college with Rachael at the University of Portland, where she won an NCAA Championship in 2005. She was an All-American with the Pilots as well as came back from 2 ACL surgeries in college and a third one in late 2015 to have one of the most famous careers in U.S. history.
She is going to get married to Sue Bird, who is a legend in women’s basketball. Bird played in the WNBA for 21 years and will retire in 2022 after getting her fifth and last Olympic gold medal with the USA Basketball team in 2021.
