World Cup to be international swansong for retiring Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe has announced that she will retire from professional soccer at the conclusion of the 2023 NWSL season.

The US women's national team star and 11-year league veteran will play her final regular-season match at Seattle's Lumen Field on 6 October against the Washington Spirit.

Rapinoe, 38, is currently preparing to compete with the two-time defending champion USWNT in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, which runs from 20 July 20 to 20 August in New Zealand and Australia.

Rapinoe also confirmed Saturday that this will be her final World Cup.

"I've been able to have such an incredible career, and this game has brought me all over the world and allowed me to meet so many amazing people," Rapinoe said.

"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. To be able to play one last World Cup and one last NWSL season and go out on my own terms is incredibly special."

It is with a deep sense of peace & gratitude that I have decided this will be my final season playing this beautiful game. I never could have imagined the ways in which soccer would shape & change my life forever, but by the look on this little girl's face, she knew all along. pic.twitter.com/XGZ1T9i7Wy

Rapinoe has earned 199 caps and a 2012 Olympic gold medal along with the World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019. In 2019, she was named Best FIFA Women's Player and won the Ballon d'Or Feminin.

Rapinoe has 63 goals and 73 assists with the USWNT while compiling a record of 157-14-28.

Rapinoe joined the Reign during the NWSL's inaugural season in 2013 and holds the club records for goals (48) and assists (25) in 109