Athletes, regardless of sport and trophy winning, spend their careers striving to leave no stone unturned. They define themselves by their relentless desire to improve every aspect of their game, and believe that even the most marginal changes can make a noticeable difference. Few have delivered on that promise quite like Alex Morgan, and even fewer have left as big a mark on women’s football as she has.
Like most sports greats, Morgan ends her professional career with a healthy mix of accolades and worthwhile highlights. She burst onto the scene in 2010 as one of American soccer’s most promising talents and fit the bill. Now she ranks fifth on the U.S. women’s national team goal scoring charts with 123 international goals. A handful of those goals came during some of the most memorable moments in the USWNT’s recent history, including its match-winners against Canada as the team won gold at the 2012 Olympics and against England en route to the 2019 Women’s World Cup title , the team’s second in a row.
How to watch Alex Morgan’s last match
Date: Sunday September 8 | Time: 8:00 PM ET
Location: Snapdragon Stadium – San Diego, California
Live stream: Biggest+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
For many athletes, these types of on-field achievements are the point where their endless pursuit of greatness ends, but for Morgan, this is just the beginning of her legacy. The attacker’s mission to do everything in his power was for the benefit of the collective and not just for his own benefit. She used her excellence on the pitch to push the power brokers in women’s football to usher in a stronger, healthier foundation for football’s exponential growth.
The first time she publicly exerted her influence was in 2016, eight months after the USWNT won their first World Cup in almost two decades and four months before they were set to defend their Olympic gold medal. She and four other national team colleagues filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissionrenewing an equal pay dispute with US Soccer that lasted another six years. The complaint was upgraded to a lawsuit three months before the 2019 World Cup kicked off, with Morgan acting as lead plaintiff. she later described as “almost a second full-time job”.
It required players to have conversations with lawyers during their pre-match preparation as the federation threw curveballs at them but did not stop them from winning a second consecutive World Cup in 2019. The team won Time’s Athlete of the Year for the balancing act and public opinion, while a packed stadium in Lyon chanted “equal pay” after the final. Even as a The federal judge threw out key parts of their lawsuit months laterMorgan and her teammates were determined to win their battle and did so with one milestone agreement in 2022aware that the future of women’s football was at stake.
“A Trinity Rodman or a Sophia Smith, they will reap all the benefits we have fought so hard for.” Morgan later relented. “That’s why I did it, so that the next generation doesn’t have to fight for equality and equal conditions and for what should have been but wasn’t. I’m really proud of the fight and determination I showed and I I really look forward to being able to share that with (her daughter) Charlie one day.”
Morgan’s advocacy for others is similar to her list of on-field accomplishments, and much of that happened behind the scenes. She and her teammates used their platforms after the 2019 World Cup victory to encourage people to watch the NWSLat the time still seeking financial security and taking a back seat to international football, despite fulfilling the necessary function of developing talent. Morgan used her contacts and influence to improve training situations for the Orlando proud And Tottenham Hotspur and also met players from other national teams for a brainstorming session while in Paris for the top FIFA football awards in 2023, as the global push for equal treatment in women’s football continues. Perhaps most notably, she played a significant role in a seismic shift in women’s soccer – dismantling a culture of abuse in the NWSL.
Do you want more attention for women’s football? Listen below and be sure to watch Attacking Third on Golazo Network Mondays and Fridays for all your USWNT, NWSL and WSL women’s soccer coverage.
Two months after winning the 2015 World Cup, Morgan was a source of support for then Portland Thorns teammate Mana Shim when she faced abusive behavior from then head coach Paul Riley and former club director Gavin Wilkinson. Later detailed in a landmark report from The AthleticMorgan helped Shim file a complaint, but discovered that the NWSL had few human resources for players and a structure that swept abuse under the rug. Six years later, she organized a group of 240 NWSL players who demanded a brand new anti-harassment policy. Within a month, the protocol was in place and marked the first step in a player-first strategy the NWSL has taken in recent years, including in the new collective bargaining agreement ratified last month.
Morgan’s outsized impact is impressive not only in scale, but also in the timeline in which it happened. She started her career shortly before WPS, the NWSL’s predecessor, went bankrupt in 2011, and broadcasts, eyeballs and sponsors were hard to find in women’s soccer. Morgan will hang up her boots amid the undeniable rise of women’s sports, something she has witnessed through her daughter’s lens.
“Charlie came to me the other day and said when she grows up she wants to be a footballer,” Morgan said in her retirement video. “It made me very proud, not because I want her to be a footballer when she grows up, but because there is a path that even a four-year-old can see now. We are changing lives and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible. “
True to form, she will use her influence to pay it forward in retirement. Morgan launched TOGETHXR, a media company focused on women’s sports, in 2021 with fellow Olympians Sue Bird, Chloe Kim and Simone Manuel and last year founded the Alex Morgan Foundation, through which she will advocate for girls and mothers in sports. Both organizations will undoubtedly help her promote women’s sport, and she admitted as much at her last World Cup last year there is still work to be done, despite the great progress women’s football has made in recent years.
As her playing career draws to a close, one thing is clear: Morgan will leave women’s football immeasurably better than she found it, with a legacy that few can match. However, her unwavering ambition ensured that many will benefit from it.