Two-time Women’s World Cup champion and longtime United States full-back Kelley O’Hara will retire at the conclusion of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League season with NJ/NY Gotham FC, she announced on Thursday.
O’Hara, 35, helped the USWNT win the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. She also played in three Olympics, including the 2012 London Games, where the USWNT won the gold medal.
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She made 160 appearances for the USWNT and became one of only 12 players in team history to play in four World Cups when she made the 2023 World Cup roster.
O’Hara joins Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz and Sam Mewis among recent major USWNT retirements. Rapinoe also played in four World Cups, while Ertz played in three and Mewis starred in the 2019 triumph, but saw her career cut short due to ongoing knee problems.
Professionally, O’Hara won three championships, one in the now defunct Women’s Professional Soccer and two in the NWSL. Her extra-time goal in the 2021 NWSL Championship was the game-winner and clinched a first league trophy for the Washington Spirit.
She helped Gotham FC win its first NWSL Championship last year.
“It has been one of the greatest joys to represent my country and to wear the U.S. Soccer crest,” O’Hara said in a statement. “As I close this chapter of my life, I am filled with gratitude. Looking back on my career I am so thankful for all the things I was able to accomplish but most importantly the people I was able to accomplish them with.”
