USWNT's Lindsay Horan, FIFA and others to World Cup winner Meghan Klingenberg emotional retirement message

Meghan Klingenberg received praise and admiration from Lindsay Horan, FIFA, and others after recently announcing her retirement from professional soccer on Wednesday. She played for the USA National Team at U-16, U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels.

The 36-year-old is retiring with 75 caps, which she earned between 2011 and 2018. She represented the national team at the 2015 World Cup and helped to lift the trophy by playing every single minute of the faceoffs. In her legendary career, she played for multiple clubs, including Portland Thorns FC, Swedish club Tyreso.

Klingenberg also enjoyed a remarkable NWSL career by collecting two championships and two NWSL Shields. She announced her decision on social media with a witty caption that said:

"Now available for charity matches, Sunday brunches and pool parties… preferably all in the same day."

Following her retirement, Klingenberg received love and admiration from her teammate Horan, who penned a long and heartwarming message for the former while reflecting on the shared moments during warmups, practice, and matches.

"To my left sides Klingy...I am so grateful for all the years I could play along side you. Joy is a special thing in football and my gosh did you bring me so much joy," Horan wrote. "To our juggling day, inappropriate line convos and tiki taka left side play. I'll miss all of it, even you yelling at me those few times :) Congrats on an amazing career my friend. Love you so much."

The FIFA Women's World Cup also admired her illustrious career and wrote:

"Congratulations on an amazing career! 👏❤️ " "You are truly the greatest ❤️ ," her teammate Janine Sonis chimed in.

Screenshots of Horan's Instagram story and Klingenberg post's comment section.

---

Meghan Klingenberg reveals the reason that led her to make the retirement decision

Meghan Klingenberg during the Seattle Reign in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Getty Images)

Meghan Klingenberg reflected on her decision to retire from soccer, stating that although it was not perfectly planned but it was the right choice for her well-being. Klingenberg further clarified that the decision was taken after she realized she was not enjoying the game anymore.

"As I sat in it and I was like okay, I'm going to go train and see if I want to play for another team and I was training and I was miserable and I was like, 'This is not what I want to do anymore and I don't miss the grind, I don't miss like the schedule.' There was just so many things that I didn't want to do anymore and so when I sat down and said, 'Okay may be I didn't make this decision exactly in the moment and may be the last moment wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be it actually ended up being what was best for me and my heart.'"

Meghan Klingenberg played her last match of professional soccer with the Portland Thorns in 2024.

Edited by Tushhita Barua