USWNT great Kelley O'Hara announces she will retire at end of 2024 NWSL season

Kelley O’Hara, one of the pillars of the U.S. women’s national team over the past 15 years, announced she will retire at the end of the 2024 NWSL season.

The Gotham FC defender has amassed 160 caps during a decorated USWNT career, winning two World Cups (2015 and 2019) and an Olympic gold medal in 2012.

“It has been one of the greatest joys to represent my country and to wear the U.S. Soccer crest,” O’Hara, 35, said in a U.S. Soccer release. “As I close this chapter of my life, I am filled with gratitude. Looking back on my career I am so thankful for all the things I was able to accomplish but most importantly the people I was able to accomplish them with.”

O’Hara played in four World Cups and three Olympics after making her USWNT debut in 2010. Her final game for the USWNT came in a last-16 defeat to Sweden in the 2023 World Cup.

On the club level, O’Hara has won titles in two different American pro leagues. First, she lifted the WPS with FC Gold Pride in 2010, then won the NWSL title with the Washington Spirit in 2021 and Gotham in 2023.

O’Hara began as an attacking player before transitioning to a defender in the early stages of her professional career. At Stanford, O’Hara won the 2009 MAC Hermann Trophy as the top college player in the country after tallying 26 goals and 13 assists in her senior season.

In the last several years of her career, O’Hara has dealt with a number of injuries. She cited the physical toll the sport took on her body as the main reason she plans to retire.

“I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to,” O’Hara told Just Women’s Sports. “I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor.”

She added: “I’ve always been like, ‘I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field’ — which is honestly probably half the reason why I’m having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I’ve just grinded hard.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kelley O'Hara to retire at end of 2024 NWSL season