--- title: Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement from Soccer description: Her final game for Team USA will be on Dec. 16 canonical: https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-27T19:53:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:21.168Z article:section: Sports og:title: Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement From Soccer og:description: She is the top scorer in international soccer history og:url: https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt004c56634e3296fc/69886e680b72e32fbb6e6867/gettyimages-479601582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4287 og:image:height: 2411 og:image:alt: USA v Japan: Final - FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement From Soccer twitter:description: She is the top scorer in international soccer history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt004c56634e3296fc/69886e680b72e32fbb6e6867/gettyimages-479601582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement From Soccer > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Abby Wambach on Making Her Last Chance Count [Watch (HLS stream): Abby Wambach on Making Her Last Chance Count](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TKM8pUcB.m3u8) (4:32)  _Published 2015-04-16. “I want to leave the game better than I found it and push it forward,” says Wambach, a champion American soccer player._  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 27, 2015 7:53 PM UTC  Abby Wambach #20 of the United States celebrates the 5-2 victory against Japan in the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 Final at BC Place Stadium on July 5, 2015 in Vancouver, Canada. Abby Wambach #20 of the United States celebrates the 5-2 victory against Japan in the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 Final at BC Place Stadium on July 5, 2015 in Vancouver, Canada. Dennis Grombkowski—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 27, 2015 7:53 PM UTC All time leading scorer in the history of international soccer Abby Wambach announced her retirement on Tuesday. Her last game for the U.S. will be against China on Dec. 16 in New Orleans, the final stop on Team USA’s World Cup victory tour. “After much deliberation and talking with my friends, family, teammates and our coaching staff, I’ve decided to finally bring my soccer career to an end,” Wambach said in a [press release](http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2015/10/27/18/45/151027-wnt-abby-wambach-announces-retirement). “While we still have more work to do for women’s soccer, after bringing the World Cup back to the United States this summer, I’m feeling extremely optimistic about the future of our sport. It’s been an amazing, wonderful ride and I can’t wait to see what the next chapter of my life brings.” Wambach, 35, said many times this summer that the 2015 World Cup would likely be her last. Team USA winning the Cup after beating Japan 5-2 in the title game likely cemented her decision. The two-time Olympic gold medalist had until Tuesday remained unsure as to whether she would be able to participate in this summer’s Olympics. Her decision to leave soccer before the tournament will have a major impact on Team USA’s chances in Rio. The announcement came just hours after President Obama honored the team at the White House. “This team taught all America’s children that playing like a girl means you’re a badass,” the President said. Wambach is credited with helping make women’s soccer a sensation in the U.S. She scored 184 goals over the course of her 15-year career, more than any other international male or female soccer player in the history of the game, and she led the USA in scoring in every world championship that she ever played. Her famous goal in the 122nd minute of the 2011 Women’s World Cup quarterfinal against Brazil will go down as one of the greatest moments in sports history. ## Transcript I was one of those kids who played better on friday nights when the lights turned on and more people are watching. I'm the youngest kid in my family, so it makes a lot of sense that when the lights turn on something inside of me changes and I get more focused and I get more sharp. Things slow down a little bit, and I don't know, I, I guess it's just the little kid in me wanting to be noticed, you know? Everybody goes through moments of doubt even when you're the best in the world. Or you're either gonna be defined by that doubt or you're gonna push past it and make something of the doubt and turn that doubt into. Something that is noble and something that, you can measure. For me, I've learned more about myself through my failures, than I have any of my successes. There's one block opportunity, U. S. goes up one [ UNKNOWN ] In her first start, Abby Wambach has hit the back of the net here in the seventh minute. My high school coach, Kathleen Boughton ,. She taught me about life and what it was to be a good teammate and I think that's something that I really value highly not just in a team environment but in any work environment the successes we've had on the on the field have been very directly correlated to how close we are and how how accepting we are of all different types of people. In a world game, honestly, it's a very simple thing. Get ball, in goal [ LAUGH ]. It's not very difficult. I have one, a one track mind. I have a one, one goal. And if I'm lucky enough to be put in a couple situations to score a goal for my country and I convert on one of those then I have a successful game. It has been. A huge wholehearted effort from the States. [ APPLAUSE ] Repeno. Whoa! Two, two! A lot of people remember the 2011 goal that, that, we scored against Brazil in the, the very, very last seconds of the game. To send in the penalty kicks and we were down a man, and it. It was just the most dramatic game ever. It's one back. Oh, great kick. Great kick. It was such an amazing moment. It was such an amazing event, you know, the people were watching and those are the moments in time where, you dream of in terms of how it can positively affect your game. Not only. You, your personal game, but the game in the country, the game in the world, on a bigger picture global scale. And for me I'm lucky that, that I was in the right place at the right time. Semifinals, here they come. The USA have pulled the rabbit from the hat [ NOISE ] And I'm also lucky that I practiced that scenario a million times in my head as a kid. You know, the countdown, how many times I was on my driveway shooting baskets and 3, 2, 1, Michael Jordan. And now, I, you know, I was a part of one of these kind of iconic moments in American soccer. It's a header. Goal! This is my last World Cup. It's kind of hard to even, even consider what I'm gonna do when I'm done playing. But I also feel like I have one more chance, you know. I have one more opportunity to win a World Cup for my country. I've never won one. Morgan tees it. I want to make my country proud. And I know that in 2011 we did, but we fell short. We didn't come home with the World Cup. I know people think that we won the World Cup, because that Brazil goal. But we didn't win, and I feel that hurt and that heartbreak every single day. And, that's why this time around. We gotta do something else we gotta sacrifice a little bit more we gotta do one more sprint we gotta do one more weight lifting session we gotta be closer we gotta we gotta try to do something different so that we can get a different outcome. I wanna leave the game better then I found it and push it forward. So that if I break any records, they're, they're, they're broken within 10 to 15 years. Because that's how we evolve. Then I know women are getting paid more. Then I know more women are having opportunities to play professional sports for life, for their career, without having to have a second job. Then I know if I'm irrelevant in 40 to 50 years, then I know that my time was well spent. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/"},"headline":"Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement From Soccer","datePublished":"2015-10-27T19:53:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:21.168Z","description":"She is the top scorer in international soccer history","url":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/","keywords":["Soccer","Abby Wambach"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt004c56634e3296fc/69886e680b72e32fbb6e6867/gettyimages-479601582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt004c56634e3296fc/69886e680b72e32fbb6e6867/gettyimages-479601582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA v Japan: Final - FIFA Women's World Cup 2015","caption":"USA v Japan: Final - FIFA Women's World Cup 2015","creditText":"Dennis Grombkowski—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/soccer/","name":"Soccer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/","name":"Abby Wambach Announces Her Retirement From Soccer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Abby Wambach on Making Her Last Chance Count","description":"“I want to leave the game better than I found it and push it forward,” says Wambach, a champion American soccer player.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TKM8pUcB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T01:03:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TKM8pUcB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/","duration":"PT4M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4089561/abby-wambach-retirement-from-soccer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```