US Women’s National Team goalkeeper legend Alyssa Naeher announces her retirement from international soccer

CHICAGO (November 25, 2024) – Alyssa Naeher, one of the greatest goalkeepers in US Women’s National Team history and the only goalkeeper in women’s soccer history to achieve a shutout in a World Cup final and an Olympic gold medal game, has officially announced her retirement from international soccer.

Naeher is in London with the U.S. team as it prepares for games against England on Nov. 30 and the Netherlands in The Hague on Dec. 3. This will be her final tour with the USWNT, capping a brilliant 11-year full international career in which she won two World Championships and was on three World Championships and three Olympic teams. She was the starting goalkeeper for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup champions and the 2024 Olympic gold medalists. She also capped the USA to the 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup title.

Her first senior cap came on December 18, 2014 in a 7-0 win over Argentina in Brazil and she enters the two games in Europe with a record of 88W-6L-14D and a goals against average. of .50 for her career.

“Having the opportunity to be a part of the USWNT for the past 15 years has been the greatest honor,” said Naeher. “When I started this journey, I could never have imagined where it would take me and now I am so grateful for all the incredible teammates I have shared the court with; teammates who have become lifelong friends. To all my teammates, coaches and staff, thank you all for pushing me, supporting me and making me a better person/player every single day. A special thanks goes to my family. You have traveled all over the world and been in my corner every step of the way and I love you all.

“This has been a special team to be a part of and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished both on and off the field. The memories I’ve made over the years will last me a lifetime. I know that a chapter is coming to a close, but I am so excited to continue to see the growth of this team going forward and what more they can accomplish.”

Naeher, 36, will play for the Chicago Stars through the 2025 NWSL season, but ends a memorable international career that saw her climb into third all-time in goaltending appearances (113), starts (110), wins (88) and shutouts. (68) behind only fellow USWNT goaltending legends Hope Solo and Briana Scurry. She became the USA’s starting goalkeeper in 2017 and earned a cap every year from her debut in 2014 through 2024. Her shutout percentage is higher than both Solo and Scurry, albeit in fewer games.

Naeher’s performances in the past four World Cups – the 2019 and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cups and the 2021 and 2024 Olympics – sealed her status as one of the greatest ever to play the position. Her surreal composure under pressure, distribution from the back, overall consistency in net and a long string of epic saves in the biggest moments have cemented her forever in USWNT history.

In the semifinals of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Naeher made one of the most memorable and important plays in American history when she stopped Steph Houghton’s penalty kick in the 83rd minute to help the United States to a 2–1 victory over England and a place in the final, where the USA won 2-0 over the Netherlands and Naeher got a shutout.

At the Olympics in France last summer, she had four shutouts as the United States made an inspiring run to the Olympic gold medal. Her four clean sheets broke Solo’s previous record for most goals by any goalkeeper in USWNT history at a single Olympics.

During her career, Naeher played 22 USWNT games – all starts – at the World Cup and Olympics, recording a total of 12 clean sheets and allowing just 12 goals. Five of her clean sheets at the World Championships came in knockout round matches.

Naeher, a three-time Olympian, backed up Solo at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and made five starts at the delayed 2021 Olympics in Tokyo in the United States’ run for the bronze medal before suffering an injury in the semifinals against Canada.

She had a match of the ages against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2021, saving one penalty at the end of regulation and two in the shootout, while making several crucial saves in regulation and overtime to secure a spot in the medal rounds.

Naeher, a two-time Women’s World Cup champion, backed up Solo during the USA’s run to the title in 2015 before playing every minute of all seven matches at the 2019 World Cup in France, giving up just three goals while earning four shutouts, including one. in the final. When she started the opening game of that World Cup in France, it was the first time in more than two decades that a player not named Solo or Scurry had played in goal in a World Cup for the United States.

Playing his second World Cup as a starter in 2023, Naeher was once again superb, playing every minute, earning three call-ups and allowing just one goal over the four games. She herself scored a penalty in the shootout, becoming the first ever goalkeeper to take and score a penalty in Women’s World Cup history, and she came within millimeters of extending the shootout, only for the ball to be infamously ruled over the line by the narrowest of margins.

In 2024, she earned her 100th cap—making her the third goalkeeper in U.S. history to do so—in the quarterfinal win against Colombia at the Concacaf W Gold Cup. She had a remarkable game in the semifinal against Canada, putting together a heroic performance in the penalty shootout, saving three of Canada’s four attempts from the spot and burying her own penalty attempt. Naeher became the first goalkeeper in USWNT history to make three or more saves in a penalty shootout.

Incredibly, she would do it again in the championship game of the 2024 SheBelieves Cup, again denying three of Canada’s spot kicks while burying her own.

Naeher was the USA’s starting goalkeeper at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile, starting five of the six games while allowing just one goal – the late 2-1 win over North Korea in the World Cup Final – and getting the golden glove as the best goalkeeper in the tournament. Naeher also played for the United States at the U-16 and U-17 levels and participated in the US U-14 ID camp in 2002.

Alyssa Michele Naeher grew up in Connecticut, where she was an elite high school basketball player who scored more than 2,000 points and dreamed of one day playing hoops for the powerhouse University of Connecticut. However, her athletic future would be on grass rather than the hardwood. She was a three-time All-State selection at Christian Heritage School. During her youth club career, she played with Yankee United from U-12 to U-15 and then for U-16 to U-19, she transferred to South Central where she won a state title. She was recruited to Penn State University, where she played 88 games in goal and earned All-America honors in 2007 and 2008. She was the 2007 Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year.

At the professional club level, Naeher is one of the last players in the NWSL to play in the ill-fated WPS, appearing for her hometown Boston Breakers from 2010-2011. She then had a valuable stint in Germany with Turbine Potsdam before returning to play for the Breakers in the newly formed NWSL. She was the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014.

In the fall of 2015, she was traded to the Chicago Red Stars and has played the last nine years there, where she has set and held all of the club’s goalkeeping records. She is also the NWSL’s all-time leader in both saves and appearances by a goaltender and will have the chance to extend those marks next season.

Known as the earliest riser on the American team during her career, her teammates will long remember her love of sitting quietly with an early morning cup of coffee along with her crossword puzzle. She achieved one of her life goals when her name was an answer in the New York Times Crossword.