Women’s soccer legend and social justice trailblazer Megan Rapinoe to retire after World Cup

US women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe announced she will be retiring from the game at the end of the NWSL season on November the 11^th.

In her retirement post on social media, Rapinoe said: "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."

"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."

Rapinoe will play her final world cup this summer as the USA plan on bringing back a third World Cup in a row when the tournament starts on July 20^th.

Rapinoe has been awarded 199 caps for the USA and will become the 14^th player in US history to receive 200 caps if she appears at the world cup in Australia.

The US soccer legend has appeared at four FIFA World Cups, winning two and receiving the Golden Ball and Final Player of the Match in 2019.

She has appeared for the team in three decades, scoring 63 goals and registering 73 assists.

As well as two world cup victories, Rapinoe has won one Olympic Gold and three NWSL Shields. Individually, she won the Best FIFA Women's Player and the Ballon d'Or Feminine in 2019.

She will go down as one of the most incredible women's players in history, but Rapinoe's social justice achievements off the field have been remarkable.

Since Rapinoe became the first openly gay US women's soccer player in 2012, the US legend became the stand-alone spokesperson for gay rights after the 2012 Olympics.

According to Olympics.com, Rapinoe said: "Just being the only spokesperson and making sure I'm setting the right example, saying the right things, whether it comes to gay marriage or topics like trans inclusion in sports, those are the challenges of just continuing to stay educated."

After a six-year legal battle for equal pay with the US men's team, Rapinoe and teammate Alex Morgan spearheaded the case to victory, becoming the first soccer federation to have equal pay between men and women.

Rapinoe was at the forefront of settling $22 million of claims from the US Soccer Federation and helped each player apply for $50,000 of the fund.

The US soccer legend was the first prominent white athlete to kneel for the national anthem in 2016, in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled to the anthem in a stand against institutional racism in America.

In 2022, Megan Rapinoe became the first soccer player to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her trailblazing career on and off the field.

According to cnn.com, US Women's general manager Kate Markgra said: "Her contributions off the field are the epitome of someone who saw that she had a large platform and used it for good."