Two-time world champion forward Christen Press announced Wednesday that she will retire from professional soccer at the end of the 2025 NWSL season, ending a 14-year professional career.
The press will be honored by Angel City FC, his current club, on Sunday at BMO Field in Los Angeles (5 p.m. ET, ESPN). She helped the United States win the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and scored 10 minutes into the semifinal victory over England in 2019.
Press retires with 64 international goals – ninth in USWNT history. She last played for the USWNT in 2021 after helping the team win a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She was also an alternate for the 2012 Olympic gold medal team.
“I’m retiring from professional football and I’ve decided this is my last season and my last games,” Press told ABC’s Good Morning America. “I feel a mixture of everything. There’s yes, there’s relief, there’s joy, there’s excitement, there’s fear, there’s so much grief. I have so much grief, a part of me, a piece of me, I’m losing it.”
“I thought I was going to wait until I didn’t want to play anymore. But I realized that time would never come and I could play, and my body could keep going. And I think it was really important for me to make that decision for myself before it became a different reality.”
The Los Angeles native, known for her innate goal-scoring abilities, creative play and versatility at the striker position, finished her decorated career with her hometown club, Angel City FC. She was the team’s first official signing of 2021 ahead of its expansion season the following year.
Press, who turns 37 in December, has seen his time this year largely limited to a reserve role. She scored one goal in 399 minutes. She fought her way back onto the field in 2024 after missing more than two full years with a knee injury and subsequent surgeries.
Before joining Angel City, she played for the Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals in the NWSL, in addition to several stints overseas. Press’ announcement follows the retirement of his wife and former USWNT teammate Tobin Heath earlier this year.
Press admitted his wife’s retirement had an impact on his own decision to step away from the game.
“She would absolutely hate it if I said this, but [it influenced me] a lot,” Press said. “I think it’s time for my family to move on to our next chapter, we’re going to be a part of this game forever, but it’s time for it to be different for us.”
Both Press and Heath signed with Manchester United in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under head coach Casey Stoney, United challenged for the Women’s Super League title that year and finished fourth.
Press first played overseas in 2012 in Sweden, when there was no professional league in the United States. In 2013, Press joined Tyresö FF at the Swedish Damallsvenskan alongside superstars like Marta. She became the first American to win the Golden Boot in this league in 2013, when she scored 23 goals.
Tyresö reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2014, losing 4–3 to VfL Wolfsburg in the final. The club folded shortly afterwards.
At the request of US Soccer, which was paying national team players’ contracts at the time, Press returned to the United States to join the Chicago Red Stars in 2014. She thrived in Chicago throughout the 2017 NWSL season before the Red Stars traded her rights to the Houston Dash ahead of the 2018 season.
Press declined to report to the Dash and opted to play briefly in Sweden for Gothenburg FC, where she played in 2012. Utah eventually acquired Press’s NWSL rights later that year, and she joined the expansion team in June 2018.
She began her professional career in the United States with the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), where she was named Rookie of the Year in 2011 for team magicJack.
Press had joined that team as the fourth overall draft pick after a standout career at Stanford, where she won the MAC Hermann Trophy in 2010 as the best player in college soccer. She is still the Stanford program’s three-time national championship career leader in several categories, including points (183) and goals (71).
