Alex Morgan’s name is synonymous with U.S. women’s soccer greatness, but these days, the world champion striker is redefining what winning looks like—off the pitch and in the world of motherhood. After a 15-year professional career, Morgan officially retired from soccer in September 2024 during her second pregnancy, closing a monumental chapter and opening another, equally impactful one.
Now 36, Morgan’s journey into motherhood has been as public as her exploits on the field. With her husband, former professional soccer player Servando Carrasco, she’s raising two children: five-year-old Charlie and five-month-old Enzo. The family’s story is one of resilience, advocacy, and a constant balancing act between elite sports and parenting duties—a narrative that’s inspired countless athlete moms to push boundaries and demand more.
On September 7, 2025, the San Diego Wave Fútbol Club will retire Morgan’s iconic No. 13 jersey, marking the first jersey retirement in club history. The event, airing live on ESPN, will see Morgan celebrated not just for her 123 goals and 224 caps for the U.S. Women’s National Team, two FIFA Women’s World Cup titles, and a NWSL Golden Boot, but also for her tireless advocacy for equal pay and better parental support in women’s soccer.
"I feel so fortunate that I got to play for five years with my daughter—on the field with her after the games, special moments walking out before the game with her, her being in the stands waving to me," Morgan told Good Morning America. "It’s not only seeing them and how my journey is so unique to me, but also all the advocacy that I’ve worked for."
That advocacy is no small feat. Morgan played a pivotal role in securing the landmark equal pay deal for U.S. women’s soccer—a fight that changed the landscape for female athletes nationwide. She also helped negotiate the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which guarantees fully paid salaries for players during pregnancy and paid parental leave for both birth and adoptive parents. "That’s created a pathway for these athletes to play and have their career a lot longer than initially thought," Morgan explained. "They no longer have to choose between retiring early to start a family and continuing to play for a full salary."
Her advocacy didn’t stop there. Morgan worked with the San Diego Wave and U.S. National Team to secure better accommodations for mothers traveling with young children, including ensuring that children over age one have their own airplane seats on long flights. "That just is not giving me the support that I need in order to excel at my sport," she said, highlighting the unique challenges athlete moms face.
Morgan’s experience as a working mom—especially during her first pregnancy—was anything but easy. In 2020, at seven months pregnant, she was still training with the national team, donning a sweatshirt that read “LFG USA” and making headlines for her determination. She gave birth to Charlie in May 2020, then moved to London to play for Tottenham Hotspur just months later, all while grappling with the uncertainties of a global pandemic and the pressures of returning to elite competition.
"It was extremely stressful trying to get back to playing full time while my supply was going down," Morgan recalled of her efforts to breastfeed Charlie while training abroad. "'Combo feeding' actually wasn’t even a really popular term at the time, nor was it something you wanted to talk about publicly because of the judgment that that could be cast on you."
Things looked very different after the birth of her son Enzo in March 2025. This time, Morgan gave herself permission to slow down, listen to her body, and prioritize her family’s well-being. "I felt like I took care of my body, but I also gave it the grace to not go on a run or get in the gym," she told SELF. "And my body responded really well this time around, in being able to give birth and get back to feeling good. I actually feel like it was the not having all that pressure on myself to get back quickly on the field."
With her second child, Morgan embraced combo feeding—using both breastmilk and formula—and became an outspoken advocate for removing the stigma around feeding choices. "I just listened to my motherly instinct," she said. "There’s this sort of stigma where moms feel like they can’t talk about their feeding journey because of fear of being judged by other moms."
That message is at the heart of Morgan’s latest partnership with Bobbie, a female-founded, mom-led organic baby formula company named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies of 2025. Their joint campaign, "There’s No Scoreboard in Motherhood," launched on September 4, 2025, and aims to replace comparison with confidence for mothers everywhere.
"This campaign is all about replacing comparison with confidence and having no score in motherhood," Morgan explained. "And that’s how I’ve really tried to live my life over the last five years as I became a mom. It’s been a lot of learning about myself too throughout this process, because as an athlete, all I’ve done in the past is compare myself to others—to do certain things and achieve certain markers—so taking that away and totally stripping that away from me, it’s almost such a relief and like a weight off your shoulders."
Bobbie’s support of athlete moms isn’t new. The company has previously partnered with tennis star Naomi Osaka and sponsored the maternity leave of bestselling cookbook author Caro Chambers. Morgan called her collaboration with Bobbie "a natural fit," noting, "immediately what stood out to me was their advocacy and support for moms everywhere, and especially athlete moms, which made me feel extremely confident."
For Morgan, the importance of support systems—whether it’s a mom group, a spouse, or family—is paramount. "I think what’s important is being able to have that support system, because the burden always falls on the mom," she said. "In a lot of ways, we’re like the primary caregiver, whether you’re breastfeeding or formula feeding, you’re naturally the one that’s like having that instinct when a baby cries, like, you know what they need."
She’s candid about the inevitable comparisons that creep in, even among family. "There are certain things that sometimes come up naturally, such as comparing my journey to maybe my sister’s who has a son that’s three weeks older than mine, and our feeding journeys, how they’re sleeping." But Morgan is quick to remind other moms: "We’re all trying our best and we’re doing a good job."
As she prepares for her jersey retirement, Morgan finds herself reflecting on a career that’s shaped not just her, but the future of women’s sports. "To have me be recognized and my jersey be forever retired—that does not happen often, not only with female athletes, but athletes at all, so it’s a really proud moment," she said.
With her daughter Charlie already expressing affection for her baby brother Enzo, Morgan is savoring the simple victories of family life. In her book, that’s as big a win as any World Cup triumph. As the San Diego Wave’s historic celebration approaches, fans and fellow athletes alike are reminded: the scoreboard may be gone, but for Alex Morgan, the wins keep coming—on her own terms.
