CHICAGO (Nov. 25, 2024) – Alyssa Naeher, one of the greatest goalkeepers in U.S. Women’s National Team history and the only goalkeeper in women’s soccer history to earn 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 matches against England on Nov. 30 and against the Netherlands in The Hague on Dec. 3. This will be her final trip with the USWNT, ending a brilliant 11-year full international career in which she won two World Cups and was on three World Cup squads 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 back-stopped the USA to the 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup title.
Her first senior team cap came on Dec. 18, 2014, in a 7-0 win over Argentina in Brazil, and she heads into the two matches in Europe with an all-time record of 88W-6L-14D and a goals against average of 0.50 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 began this journey, I never could have imagined where it would take me, and now I find myself so grateful for all the incredible teammates that I have shared the field with; teammates that have turned into 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 were 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 am beyond proud of what we have achieved both on and off the field. The memories I have made over the years will last me a lifetime. I know one chapter is ending, 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 during the 2025 NWSL season but ends a memorable international career that saw her climb into third-place all-time in goalkeeper caps (113), starts (110), wins (88) and shutouts (68) behind only fellow USWNT goalkeeping legends Hope Solo and Briana Scurry. She became the USA’s starting goalkeeper in 2017 and earned a cap in 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 last four world championships – the 2019 and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cups and the 2021 and 2024 Olympics -- firmly sealed her status as one of the greatest ever to play the position. Her surreal calmness under pressure, distribution from the back, overall consistency in the net and a litany of epic saves in the biggest of moments have cemented her forever in USWNT lore.
In the semifinal of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Naeher made one of the most memorable and important plays in U.S. 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 earned the shutout.
At the Olympics in France this past summer, she earned four shutouts as the USA made an inspirational run to the Olympic gold medal. Her four clean sheets bested Solo’s previous record for the most by any goalkeeper in USWNT history at a single Olympics.
During her career, Naeher made 22 USWNT appearances – all of them 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 world championships came in knockout round matches.
A three-time Olympian, Naeher backed up Solo at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and made five starts at the delayed 2021 Olympics in Tokyo in the USA’s run to the bronze medal before suffering an injury in the semifinal against Canada.
She had a match for the ages against the Netherlands in the quarterfinal at Tokyo 2021, saving one penalty kick at the end of regulation and two in the shootout while making several crucial saves during regulation and overtime to secure a berth in the medal rounds.
A two-time Women’s World Cup champion, Naeher 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 only three goals while earning four shutouts, including one in the Final. When she started the opening game of that World Cup in France, it marked the first time in more than two decades that a player not named Solo or Scurry had played in goal in a world championship for the USA.
Playing in her second World Cup as a starter in 2023, Naeher was once again stellar, playing every minute, earning three shoutouts and allowing just one goal over the four games. She made a penalty kick herself in the shootout, becoming the first-ever goalkeeper to take and make a penalty kick 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 slimmest of margins.
In 2024, she earned her 100th cap – making her the third goalkeeper in U.S. history to do so -- in the quarterfinal victory against Colombia at the Concacaf W Gold Cup. She played a remarkable match in the semifinal against Canada, putting together a heroic performance in the penalty kick shootout in which she saved three of Canada’s four attempts from the spot and buried her own penalty kick attempt. Naeher became the first goalkeeper in USWNT history to make three or more saves in a penalty kick shootout.
Amazingly, she would do it again in the championship game of the 2024 SheBelieves Cup, once 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 matches while allowing just one goal – that coming at the very end of the 2-1 with over North Korea in the World Cup Final – and earned the Golden Glove as the best ‘keeper in the tournament. Naeher also played for the USA at the U-16 and U-17 levels and attended the U.S. Under-14 I.D. camp in 2002.
Alyssa Michele Naeher grew up in Connecticut where she was an elite high school basketball player, scoring more than 2,000 points, and dreamed of one day playing hoops for the powerhouse University of Connecticut. Her athletic future, however, would be on the 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 through U-15 and then for U-16 to U-19 she switched 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 Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2007.
At the professional club level, Naeher is one of the last players in the NWSL who played in the ill-fated WPS where she turned out for her home area Boston Breakers from 2010-2011. She then had a valuable stint in Germany with Turbine Potsdam before coming back 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, setting and holding all of the club’s goalkeeper records. She is also the NWSL’s all-time leader in both saves and appearances by a goalkeeper and will get the chance to extend those marks next season.
Known as the earliest riser on the U.S. 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.