2LT National News

(Photo credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports)

NJ/NY Gotham FC defender Kelley O’Hara, a two-time World Cup winner with the United States women’s national team, will retire at the end of the 2024 NWSL season, she revealed to Just Women’s Sports on Thursday.

The 35-year-old won the 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles with the USWNT and played for the 2011 team that finished as the runner-up. She played in her fourth World Cup in 2023 on a team that was eliminated in the first round of the knockout stage.

O’Hara has played in two matches for Gotham this season while being slowed by ankle and knee injuries, after playing in 13 regular-season matches for the NWSL champions last season. O’Hara also won an NWSL title with the Washington Spirit in 2021, scoring the championship-winning goal in stoppage time of the final.

“I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to,” O’Hara said to Just Women’s Sports. “I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor.”

An Atlanta-area native who attended Stanford, O’Hara missed her decisive attempt in the penalty shootout at the 2023 World Cup at Australia as Sweden advanced following a scoreless draw.

–Field Level Media