In a career marked by spectacular goals, cerebral play, and a relentless personal journey toward self-acceptance, US soccer icon Christen Press has announced her retirement from professional soccer at the close of the 2025 NWSL season.
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Christen Press Retires, Finding Peace in the “Mix of Everything”
The two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner and Angel City FC forward shared the news, admitting a truth perhaps few athletes of her caliber ever voice: “I thought I would wait until I didn’t want to play anymore, but I realized… that time is never going to come.”
This sentiment captures the unique essence of Press’s 14-year career—a pursuit driven not just by raw talent, but by an intellectual, even existential, quest for the perfect game.
The Paradoxical Goodbye
Press, 36, is not walking away due to a loss of passion; she’s retiring because she’s finally made peace with a career that was always meant to be greater than the confines of the pitch. Her candid admission on a Wednesday morning broadcast that she “felt a mix of everything” is a far cry from the typical platitudes of feeling “ready” or “at peace.” It’s a statement of honest, complex emotion that has defined her journey.
From her beginnings as Stanford’s all-time leading goal-scorer to her vital role in the USWNT’s 2015 and 2019 World Cup victories—including that iconic opening goal in the 2019 semi-final against England—Press’s career was a constant negotiation between external expectations and internal fulfillment.
Famously, her move to Sweden early in her professional life was described as an “Existential Experience,” one where she shed the crippling pressure of perfectionism and “learned to love myself” and the beautiful game again.
USWNT Icon Christen Press to Retire at End of 2025 Season
The ACL and the Angel City Story
Her final chapter is perhaps her most poignant. As the face of expansion club Angel City FC, Press embodied the spirit of Los Angeles. Her tenure, however, was tragically interrupted by a devastating ACL tear in June 2022. The subsequent 28-month journey of surgeries and grueling rehabilitation meant missing all of 2023 and most of 2024.
Her triumphant comeback goal in October 2024, after over two years on the sidelines, was a moment of sheer, hard-won brilliance—a testament to her almost superhuman resolve. By re-signing for a one-year deal for 2025, she gave herself, and her beloved Los Angeles fans, one last ride. This final season, therefore, is not a quiet winding down, but a victory lap earned through pain and perseverance.
Beyond the Field: A Legacy of Thought
Press’s legacy is more than her 155 caps, 64 USWNT goals (ninth all-time), and World Cup gold medals. She, along with teammates like Tobin Heath and Megan Rapinoe, co-founded the gender-neutral lifestyle brand RE—INC, a company dedicated to equality and rethinking the status quo.
Her cerebral, introspective approach, often shared through the The RE—CAP Show podcast she co-hosts, has made her a unique figure—an athlete who dared to be a philosopher on the field.
Her retirement is not an ending, but a transition to an inevitable new chapter that will undoubtedly continue to challenge and redefine boundaries. As she plays her final few matches, Press leaves behind a career that proves the best athletes are not just those who conquer the competition, but those who bravely conquer themselves.
The “mix of everything” she feels is the weight of a monumental career, and the exciting, complicated freedom of a life waiting to be lived off the pitch.
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