The Seattle Reign announced Thursday that Megan Rapinoe will be the second player to have a jersey number retired by an NWSL club.
The Reign and USWNT legend retired from her playing career last fall. The club will honor Rapinoe and her No. 15 shirt on Aug. 25 with a celebration at Lumen Field during the Reign’s match against the North Carolina Courage.
The only other NWSL player whose number is retired is Lauren Holiday, whose No. 12 was retired by FC Kansas City on Aug. 27, 2015. As that club dissolved in 2017, Rapinoe’s will be the only retired number among the league’s 14 active teams.
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In general, retiring players’ jersey numbers are a rarity in soccer compared to American sports’ standards. For example, only three players have retired numbers across all of MLS’s 29 clubs: Pablo Mastroeni (No. 25, Colorado Rapids), Bradley Wright-Phillips (No. 99, New York Red Bulls) and Clive Charles (No. 3, Portland Timbers). To that end, the fact that Rapinoe’s iconic moments came in the No. 15 shirt may have made it easier to set that aside for the rest of the club’s future than if she had worn one of the sport’s more iconic digits like No. 9, 10 or 11.
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Rapinoe is one of just three players to have played for the Reign from their inaugural season in 2013 through 2023, which saw the Washington club fall in the NWSL Championship against Gotham FC. She played in 121 NWSL games for the Reign, scoring 52 goals.
Entering 2024, Rapinoe ranks third in appearances with the club across all competitions (behind Lauren Barnes and Jess Fishlock, the other mainstays since 2013), and leads the Reign’s all-time goalscoring chart.
“I have lived so much life in this jersey and am humbled to see it retire alongside me,” Rapinoe said in a club-issued news release. “It represents so much more than myself — a team, a city, and a lifetime of memories. Thank you to the Reign and to my teammates for the love, the support and the opportunity to leave a piece of my heart on the field.”
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(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
