Kelley O'Hara announces her retirement at end of 2024 season

Featured, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Professional, Soccer

May 3, 2024

Kelley O'Hara has announced her retirement from professional soccer at the end of the 2024 NWSL season.

O'Hara, originally from Georgia, has had a pivotal role in women's soccer in the US. She made 160 appearances with the USWNT in all competitions from 2011 to 2023. She is only one of 12 players who have played in four consecutive World Cups for the USWNT (2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023), winning two straight World Cups in 2015 and 2019. O'Hara was also part of three Olympic games, winning gold in 2012 and bronze in 2021.

This is O'Hara's second stint with Gotham, her first coming back when the club was Sky Blue FC. She played with Sky Blue from 2013 to 2017. After leaving Sky Blue, O'Hara played for the Utah Royals from 2018 to 2020 before helping the Washington Spirit to an NWSL championship in 2021.

She was the first ever free agent signing in NWSL history in 2023 when she signed to Gotham FC, returning to the New Jersey area. In 2023, she was a part of the Gotham team that won the NWSL Championship, which was her second overall. The 2024 season is her 15th professional season and 11th NWSL season.

"I just want to say thank you to every single person who has cheered me on and supported me through the years," O'Hara said in her video announcement with Just Women's Sports. "I've been playing soccer since I was four years old, and it's been an absolute joy. But as they say, 'Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.' And I know there will be a lot of tears by me and probably some of y'all, but I hope there are more smiles. Love y'all."

O'Hara's legacy will be every accomplishment she made on the pitch and her impact off the pitch. She has been one of many players calling for equal pay in women's soccer. Just Women's Sports gave O'Hara her own show called "Kelley on the Street," where she would go out and interview people about women's soccer, with most people not knowing they were being interviewed by Kelley O'Hara.

O'Hara has made the most of her career. Young women have grown up watching her career unfold and been inspired by her and the rest of her national and club teammates. She has left women's soccer better than she found it, and for that, O'Hara will always be remembered as a legend of the game.