USWNT legende Alyssa Naeher announces retirement

Alyssa Naeher, showed on March 25th, announced her retirement on Friday (Photo: Len Cederholm).

CHICAGO, IL–Chicago Stars FC and former US Women’s National Team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher announced her retirement on Friday after a 17-year career with eleven of those seasons with the Stars.

“The decision to retire is never an easy one, but after a lot of prayer and reflection, I feel like it is the right time,” said Naeher. “When I got traded from Boston to Chicago at the end of 2015, I felt like my world got turned upside down, but Chicago very quickly became my home away from home. I feel incredibly blessed to have shared the field with so many amazing teammates over the last 11 years, and have created a lifetime of memories on and off the field that I will always cherish. I want to thank the coaches and the organization for their support and belief in me. Captaining this team has been a great honor of my career, and shoutout to the fans for their continued support of me and the team.”

Naeher won two Women’s World Cups (2015 and 2019) and gold medalist (2024) earned 115 caps with the USA and with 89 wins and 69 clean sheets–third all time in all categories. She became the first female goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup Final and a Gold Medal Match.

She started her club career with Boston Breakers in 2010 and played six seasons with the Breakers before being traded to the Stars after the 2015 season. Naeher became the #1 keeper for the Stars and would go on to play eleven seasons making 179 regular season appearances for the Stars (45 with the Breakers), a league record 558 career saves, 62 wins, and 45 clean sheets. She would appear in two NWSL Championship matches for the Stars in 2019 and 2021.

One of her most unforgettable Stars moments came on August 18, 2025, as she scored in the ninth minute of second-half stoppage time to complete a three-goal comeback and secure a 3-3 draw against Seattle Reign FC for her only career goal. On the same night, she became the first goalkeeper to reach 200 NWSL regular-season appearances, and she also became just the third goalkeeper in league history to score a goal.