Courtesy of Abby Wambach
ITN
Abby Wambach is quite comfortable, she says, with the thought that she’s not a soccer player anymore.
When the two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA World Cup champion retired from the sport in 2015, she had scored 184 goals for the U.S. Women’s National Team in World Cups, the Olympics and international friendlies – including games at the Historic Crew Stadium. Until 2020, it was the most goals scored at the international level among both men and women.
“When I found the game early on in my career, and when I left the game, I think the game got better,” Wambach says. “There are so many amazing women soccer players out there that the last thing I want to actually focus any of my future life on is what I did on the soccer field.”
Since her retirement, Wambach has found ways to continue as a leader of women throughout the world. She’s published two books: her 2016 memoir Forward, which highlighted her issues with alcohol and substance abuse, and the 2019 release Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power and Change the Game, based on her viral 2018 commencement speech at Barnard College.
Wolfpack helped launch Wambach’s professional speaking career. On Feb. 10, she will speak at the New Albany Community Foundation Lecture Series.
“It’s really amazing that, some of the things that I was able to experience in my life, people want to hear about,” Wambach says.
She points out that transitions can be difficult, are rarely talked about and come with no playbook or guide to tell you what the next steps are.
Courtesy of Abby Wambach
“The truth is I got super lucky early in my transition from soccer to my new life,” she says. “I met my wife and my new family, which completely grounded me and gave me absolutely everything.”
Wambach has certainly made the most of her years since retiring from professional soccer. She’s transitioned from being a leader of the women’s national team to being a leader for people everywhere.
As soccer continues to find its footing in an already congested American sports landscape, Wambach says the National Women’s Soccer League is now in a position for growth.
On the men's side, Major League Soccer team owners bet on the sport exploding in popularity following the 2026 World Cup that will be hosted in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The value of those teams that play in the top professional men’s soccer league, continues to increase. Forbes’ valuation for the Columbus Crew, for instance, increased from $73 million in 2013 to $200 million in 2019.
There have been challenges, however. The USWNT is in a legal battle against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay with the U.S. Men’s National Team. While the women’s team has appeared in and won several World Cups, the men’s counterpart hasn’t won the prize and failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, marking the first time since 1986 that it has fallen short.
In addition, the NWSL has been shaken by scandals relating to sexual misconduct, homophobic comments and more. This led the league to cancel games for a weekend amid calls for change from its players.
“Do I think soccer in America has grown exponentially in the last 50 years? Yes,” Wambach says. “Having said all of that, with the pay equity conversation and the sexual assault stuff going on inside the NWSL, there is so much more room for growth, but I think one of the most important things when we really talk about this kind of growth that we dream of having truly is starting with the truth. I think, for too long, women’s soccer was built on the platform of men’s soccer. And we’re just different with different entities, right?”
The USMNT is now trying to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Wambach says the men’s team is young and exciting and she hopes the group can qualify. She’s also optimistic that the women’s team will achieve the financial equality sought after.
“It’s something that I believe – that, one day in our near future, it will happen,” she says. “I’m excited for what’s happening in the U.S., even though it looks like it’s falling apart. I have a bigger vision that has gone that back many years and also a vision that goes forward many years.”
Whatever direction American soccer takes or continues on, Wambach knows what she wants to get out of her current life now way beyond the soccer pitch.
“I have so much more to learn about myself, so much more to learn about the world,” she says. “I’m more than just a soccer player – and there’s nothing wrong with just being a soccer player by the way. But I have so many other dreams and goals and wishes for my life and for the world.”
Memories of Columbus
When she played for the U.S. Women’s National Team, Abby Wambach made four appearances at the Historic Crew Stadium. She scored her second international goal in a friendly against Scotland.
“I loved playing in Columbus,” Wambach says. “It was close to my hometown so a lot of times my family drove over from Rochester, N.Y.”
Historic Crew Stadium was Major League Soccer’s first soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. and home to the Columbus Crew. The team, also known as the Black and Gold, relocated to its new downtown stadium last year.
Except for her final Columbus game, a friendly against New Zealand in 2013, Wambach scored in all her games at Crew Stadium.
“The yellow and black is what I remember,” Wambach says.
Brandon Klein is the senior editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Read more about Wambach’s insights in health and well-being in the January/February 2022 issue of Healthy New Albany Magazine.
