Samantha Mewis, who played for the U.S. squad that won the 2019 Women’s World Cup, has retired from soccer because of a knee injury that has sidelined her from the national team since the Tokyo Olympics.
Mewis, 31, underwent the first of two knee surgeries shortly after the Olympics in 2021. Her final match for the United States was a 4-3 victory over Australia for the bronze medal.
“With both sadness and clarity, I am retiring from professional soccer,” she said in a statement on social media. “Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires. Though this isn’t what I wanted, it’s clear that this is the only path forward for me.”
The midfielder scored 24 goals in 83 appearances over eight years with the national team. At the 2019 World Cup in France, Mewis started in five games, including the tournament-winning final match against the Netherlands. She scored two goals and had three assists over the course of the event.
Mewis announced that she will serve as editor-in-chief of The Women’s Game on the Men in Blazers Media Network.
“Soccer has put so many wonderful things in my life, but the most wonderful thing has been the people,” she said. “To all my family, friends, teammates, and fans, I truly feel that we did this together and I’m extremely grateful.”
Mewis was the 2020 U.S. Soccer women’s Player of the Year.
She last played professionally for the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. She appeared in two Challenge Cup matches for the Current in early 2022 but missed the rest of the season before a second knee surgery in January 2023.
She also played for Manchester City, scoring in the FA Cup Final victory over Everton in 2020.
She was on squads that won three NWSL titles, first with the Western New York Flash and then twice with the North Carolina Courage. A Massachusetts native, Mewis was also on the UCLA team that won an NCAA title in 2013.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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