Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe (born July 5, 1985, Redding, California, U.S.) is a former football (soccer) player who is regarded as one of the sport’s legendary athletes, known for her play on the field and her activism off it. A leading winger, she helped the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) win two Women’s World Cups (2015 and 2019) as well as a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Rapinoe was named Women’s Player of the Year by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in 2019. She is also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights and gender equality.

Early life

Rapinoe started playing soccer at a young age and sharpened her skills during her teenage years. She then attended the University of Portland in Oregon with her fraternal twin sister, Rachael Rapinoe. Megan Rapinoe was a star of the university’s soccer team, becoming one of the leading scorers in collegiate women’s soccer in the United States. However, an injury to her knee—the first of three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears during her career—forced her to sit out part of the seasons during her sophomore and junior years. She returned to soccer full-time as a senior and started all the games that season. In 2008 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

Club play

In 2009 the Chicago (Illinois) Red Stars of the newly formed Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league drafted Rapinoe. She played there until late 2010, when the team disbanded. After a short stay with the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Independence, Rapinoe was traded to the Boca Raton (Florida) magicJack. She scored two goals in just eight games, helping to lead the magicJack to a third-place finish in the league that season. The magicJack disbanded in late 2011, and the WPS folded in early 2012.

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In 2011 Rapinoe played some games with Sydney Football Club (FC) of the Australian W-League before returning to the United States, where she signed (2012) with the Seattle (Washington) Sounders Women (now the Sound FC). For the 2013 season, Rapinoe played soccer in France. She then joined the Seattle Reign FC (now OL Reign) of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which had formed after the WSP broke up. Rapinoe became one of the team’s leading scorers, and she helped the Reign advance to the NWSL championship game in 2014 and 2015. However, in both matches Seattle was defeated by FC Kansas City. In 2023 Rapinoe announced that she was retiring at the end of the NWSL season that year. She again helped the Reign advance to the title game but suffered an injury minutes into the contest and was unable to play thereafter. The Reign ultimately lost to NJ/NY Gotham FC.

International career

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Meanwhile, Rapinoe was also playing on the international level. She was on the USWNT that competed at the 2012 Games in London, and there Rapinoe helped lead the team to a gold medal with several game-winning assists or goals. She appeared at her second Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. However, the USWNT had a poor showing and failed to earn a medal. At the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the USWNT won a bronze medal; during the tournament, Rapinoe notably scored a rare “Olimpico,” a goal on a corner kick.

Rapinoe also participated in four FIFA Women’s World Cups (2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023), and in 2018–20 she was cocaptain of the national team. Her contributions were key to the U.S. team’s victories in 2015 and 2019. For her outstanding performance in 2019, Rapinoe was named FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or as the best female player in the world. In 2023 Rapinoe played in her final World Cup. It was a disappointing end, as the USWNT made its earliest exit ever from the tournament, losing in the round of 16 to Sweden in a penalty shoot-out; Rapinoe was one of several American players to miss a penalty kick.

Activism

Rapinoe has used her popularity to advance various social causes. In addition to being a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ community, she has also been an advocate for racial justice. In 2016 she became the first white athlete to kneel during the playing of the national anthem, a movement started by NFL player Colin Kaepernick to protest racism and police brutality against African Americans. In 2019 Rapinoe joined several USWNT teammates in a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Citing gender discrimination, the team sought pay equal to that of the U.S. men’s soccer team; a documentary about the lawsuit, LFG, appeared in 2021. The following year a settlement was reached in the lawsuit. As part of the deal, players were to receive $24 million, and the federation promised equal pay for the men’s and women’s teams at future events.

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Rapinoe, an outspoken critic of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, made additional headlines in 2019 when she announced that she would refuse the traditional visit to the White House if the USWNT won the Women’s World Cup; the team ultimately did not go. In 2020 Rapinoe published the memoir One Life (written with Emma Brockes). U.S. Pres. Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.