Megan Rapinoe announces she will retire at the end of the 2023 season, following in the footsteps of her partner who retired in 2022

• Megan Rapinoe said she will retire from the NWSL at the end of the 2023 season.
• The announcement comes days before her team travels to New Zealand to vie for another World Cup title.

Megan Rapinoe — a two-time World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist — will retire at the end of this season, she announced at a news conference on Saturday.

Rapinoe told reporters she wanted to get the announcement out of the way prior to her team's trip to New Zealand, where they will vie for their third-straight World Cup title.

"It is with a deep sense of peace & gratitude that I have decided this will be my final season playing this beautiful game," Rapinoe wrote on Twitter.

Rapinoe's announcement comes less than a year after her partner, Sue Bird, retired from the WNBA. In February, Rapinoe told Insider her partner's laid-back lifestyle prompted "a lot of jealousy."

Rapinoe has also been a fierce advocate for gender equity in the United States. The soccer icon met with President Joe Biden in 2021 to discuss the US Women's National Team's fight for equal pay after suing the US Soccer Federation alongside 28 other players in 2019. Last year, Rapinoe also spoke out against anti-trans legislation in the United States that prohibited transgender athletes from playing on teams that aligned with their gender identity.

"Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone's scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title," Rapinoe told Time Magazine. "I'm sorry, it's just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period."