August 16, (THEWILL) – An era of excellence in world female football is coming to an end with the decision of United States Women’s National Team forward Carli Lloyd to call time on her storied and inspiring career.
She announced that after four friendlies in September and October she will play out the remainder of NJ/NY Gotham FC’s National Women’s Soccer League season and hang her boots for good.
The sheer longevity of her career is a story of determination and resilience. Lloyd, a native of Delran Township, NJ has been capped 312 times which is the second-most in USWNT history.
In that span of games, she scored 128 goals, which makes her the fifth highest all-time goal-scorer in women’s football and third-most in USWNT history behind only the 184 goals of Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly’s 130 goals.
The 39-year-old, who debuted in 2005, will exit the game with a tally of two Olympic Gold Medals and two Women’s World Cups, internationally. She also won the 2017 FA Women’s Cup in the colours of Manchester City. Lloyd was twice named the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, in 2008 and 2015, and and twice named the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year in 2015 and in 2016.
Her statement announcing her retirement read: “When I first started out with the National Team in 2005, my two main goals were to be the most complete soccer player I could be and to help the team win championships.
“Every single day I stepped out onto the field, I played as if it was my last game. I never wanted to take anything for granted, especially knowing how hard it is to get to the top, but even harder to stay at the top for so long.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
