It's been nearly two decades since soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe made her debut on the U.S Women's National Team. In that time, the flamboyant midfielder earned a place not only as one of the best soccer players of her generation, but as a proud and profound voice for change and progress in the United States at large. Now, at 38 years old, Rapinoe has announced plans to retire from the sport that made her famous at the end of this season, telling reporters that she feels "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."
With her iconic, open-armed victory pose, Rapinoe is undoubtedly a generational talent whose impact on soccer will be felt long after she walks off the pitch for the final time. But her World Cup championships and Olympic gold medals are only part of what's made Rapinoe one of the most important cross-cultural figures of the 21st century.
Known for "her amazing talents on the field, her creative goal scoring, her clutch performances in some of the biggest matches of her career," Rapinoe has been dubbed "one of the most iconic soccer players and personalities in the history of the game" by U.S. Soccer, and an "iconic soccer star who has transcended her sport" by The New York Times. But to the extent she has indeed "transcended" soccer, "much of that was possible because her career on the field had so many highlight-reel-worthy moments," the Times wrote in a catalog of her most impressive in-game achievements.
Rapinoe's soccer superstardom was on full display in 2011, when she and teammate Aly Wambach saved the USWNT's World Cup chances (they would ultimately win the game, but lose later in the tournament) with what many consider the greatest Women's World Cup goal of all time:
Rapinoe also became the first woman to score an "Olimpico" goal in the 2012 London Olympics, and then again nearly a decade later in Tokyo.
As tabulated by the Times, Rapinoe "is expected to soon reach 200 appearances for the U.S. women's national team" with a stunning "63 goals in her international career." She is also "one of only seven American women with more than 50 goals and 50 assists in international competition," and in 2019 was named the FIFA Women's World Cup Best Player.
During her 2019 FIFA award acceptance speech, Rapinoe put her career-defining commitments to social justice and equality front and center, telling onlookers that "if everybody was as outraged about homophobia as the LGBTQ players, if everybody was as outraged about equal pay or the lack thereof, or the lack of investment in the women's game, other than just women, that would be the most inspiring thing to me."
That same year, Rapinoe was directly targeted by then-President Donald Trump who attacked the star for not putting her hand on her heart during the national anthem, and for her assertion that she would not go "to the f--king White House" if invited — part of her longstanding history of public antagonism toward the Trump administration.
Rapinoe, who publicly came out as gay in 2012, has been similarly outspoken about LGBTQ rights, as well as pay disparities between men's and women's soccer franchises. In a 2021 essay for The Washington Post, Rapinoe blasted GOP-led efforts to restrict transgender athletes as "attempting to solve a problem that doesn't exist."
"As a woman who has played sports my whole life," she wrote, "I know that the threats to women's and girls' sports are lack of funding, resources and media coverage; sexual harassment; and unequal pay" — an issue particularly associated with Rapinioe's stardom, after she the other members of the USWNT sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination in 2019.
In 2022, President Biden awarded Rapinoe the U.S. Medal of Freedom, lauding her for having "helped lead the change for perhaps the most important victory for anyone on the soccer team or any soccer team — equal pay for women."
"I know there are millions of people who are marginalized by gender in the world and experience the same thing in their jobs," Rapinoe said during the medal ceremony. "I know there are people who experience even more, where the layers of discrimination continue to stack against them. And I and my teammates are here for them."
Rapinoe is scheduled to appear in her fourth, and final, Women's World Cup games this summer, before officially stepping away from the sport that helped "shape & change my life forever."
