(Los Angeles) American soccer star Megan Rapinoe, Olympic champion and two-time world champion, will play her last international match in a friendly against South Africa in Chicago on September 24, the United States Federation announced on Tuesday.
A tribute will be paid to the 38-year-old player, with 202 caps for 63 goals, US Soccer said.
“People might think that ending my career is sad, but if I go back over 30 years of soccer, the emotions that override it are joy and gratitude,” the champion said in a statement.
The iconic striker, global figurehead of women’s soccer, committed to LGBTQ rights, announced that she would be ending her career in November, at the end of the United States Championship regular season, that she disputes with her club OL Reign.
FIFA Player of the Year 2019, Rapinoe was eliminated with the United States in the round of 16 of the last World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, by Sweden (0-0, 5 tab to 4).
She had won with the United States the Olympic tournament at the London Games in 2012 then the World Cup in 2015 and 2019.