Soccer star Megan Rapinoe to retire

U.S. soccer player Megan Rapinoe has announced she’s retiring from the sport at the end of the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2023 season. The three-time Olympian has spent 17 years on the team and has used her position to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, support for the Black Lives Matter movement and pay equality. After a 6-year battle for equal pay for the women’s team, Rapinoe and her teammates reached a $24 million settlement with U.S. Soccerin 2022 that included back pay.

  • On a recent episode of LinkedIn’s Hello Monday podcast, Rapinoe, who is also chief equality officer at software company Trusaic, discussed leveling the playing field for equal wages.

 

By Tiffany Moustakas, Editor at LinkedIn News

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U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe will retire at the end of the season

Megan Rapinoe will retire at the end of this season. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Megan Rapinoe, a U.S. soccer star known for her achievements on the field as well as her political activism off of it, announced on Saturday that she will retire from professional soccer at age 38.

Rapinoe will play in her fourth and final World Cup this summer before finishing the season with her National Women’s Soccer League team, OL Reign. She will end her career having won at least two World Cups and one Olympic gold medal.

“I feel incredibly grateful to have played as long as I have, to be as successful as we’ve been, and to have been a part of a generation of players who undoubtedly left the game better than they found it,” Rapinoe said in a statement.

Rapinoe did not cite a reason for her retirement, but last year, in an interview with NPR, she acknowledged her age and that she had sustained some injuries.

 

“I had a couple little injuries, I’m getting a little bit older, so I want to go through the season and see how my body feels, and all that, but I feel like I still have a lot to give,” she said.

Rapinoe added she looked forward to retiring with her fiancée and WNBA star Sue Bird.

“I think we’re both looking forward to, like, that freedom of, yeah, maybe we like do weekend trips,” she said. “I honestly want to take, like, a year and just figure it out and not do too much.”

17 year career marked by goals, trophies and the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Rapinoe, from Redding, Calif., played soccer throughout childhood and college. Her international career began in 2006 when she was 21 years old during a match against Ireland in San Diego.

Over the next 17 years, Rapinoe competed in the Olympics three times and earned a gold medal in 2012 after scoring two goals in a semifinal match against Canada.

Rapinoe will have played in the FIFA Women’s World Cup four times — in 2011 in Germany, 2015 in Canada, 2019 in France, and the 2023 edition starting later this month in Australia and New Zealand. In 2019, she was awarded the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Year and received the Golden Ball. She also took home the Golden Boot as the top scorer, having made six goals. For fans eager to catch all the action live, 실시간축구중계 will be essential to stay updated on every thrilling moment.

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