The Cal 100: No. 16 -- Alex Morgan
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 16: Alex Morgan
Cal Sports Connection: Morgan played soccer at Cal from 2007 through 2010 and was the Golden Bears' leading scorer all four years. She was a first-team All-America selection in 2010.
Claim to Fame: She has been a key member of USA teams that won two Women’s World Cup gold medals and one Olympic gold medal. She ranks seventh alltime in international goals scored, and is first in that category among active Americans. She helped women’s soccer players get equal pay with the men, and she was the highest-paid women’s soccer player in the world in 2022.
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It’s not an overstatement to say Alex Morgan is one of the best women’s soccer players ever, nor is it hyperbole to claim she has had as big an impact as anyone on women’s soccer.
The big question is, where do we start? From team and individual athletic success and awards to endorsements and wealth to impact on the soccer society, Morgan has set the standard in today’s women’s soccer world.
---We’ll start with the team accomplishments.
She has been a key figure with USA teams that won the gold medal at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. And she is the star and co-captain of the American team that is currently vying for an unprecedented third straight Women’s World Cup title. This at the age of 34 after having a child three years ago.
---Now we move to the individual on-the-field accomplishments.
Morgan has scored 121 international goals (as of July 23, 2023), which ranks seventh alltime among all women’s soccer players in the world. It ranks second among all active women’s soccer players and first among active American players. Morgan also has 50 international assists, which ranks second among active American players, behind only Megan Rapinoe.
Morgan was also the leading scorer in the National Women's Soccer League last year.
10-minute video of Alex Morgan goals. No words needed:
---Next we note just a few of the awards she has won:
In 2013, Morgan was named to the U.S. Women’s National Team’s All-time Best XI by the U.S. Soccer Federation as voted on by soccer players, administrators and media members. At 24 years old, Morgan was the youngest player on the team and the only one still active today.
Morgan has twice been named the U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year (2012, when she was 23 years old, and 2018).
Morgan was the only American named to the 2022 FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11, which features the top 11 soccer players in the world in 2022 as determined by professional soccer players.
A 20-foot statue of Alex Morgan in the form of the Statue of Liberty appeared recently at Women's World Cup media day at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California:
Photo by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports
---We now address her wealth and endorsements:
Forbes ranked her 19th-highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2022, and she tied with Megan Rapinoe as the highest paid female soccer player. Forbes estimated her 2022 income at $5.7 million, and noted these sources of income:
-- With the U.S. women's national team, Morgan won the 2015 and 2019 World Cups plus a 2012 Olympic gold medal. She co-captained the team from 2018 to 2020.
-- She is a cofounder of Togethxr, a women-focused media company, and of Just Live CBD.
-- She expanded her investment portfolio in 2022, adding stakes in eating-disorder-treatment startup Equip, recruiting platform Teamable, golf-tech firm TMRW Sports and retailer Soccer Post.
Morgan has had endorsements with Nike, Panasonic, AT&T, Chobani, McDonald's, Proctor & Gamble, Mondeles International, Bank of America, ChapStick, Nationwide Insurance and Coca-Cola, among others.
In June 2015, Time magazine named Morgan the highest paid American women's soccer player.
---We go on to things that show her popularity and importance in America:
Morgan has appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue three times (2012, 2015 and 2019) and posed for one of the three covers for the the 2019 SI Swimsuit issue. She has also been featured on the covers of Health magazine and Self magazine, and has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated several times other than the Swimsuit issues, especially girls, .
In 2015, Morgan, Canadian Christine Sinclair and Australian Steph Catley became the first female athletes to appear on the cover of EA Sports FIFA video game FIFA 16.
---Finally, we address her influence on the soccer society:
Morgan signed with Simon & Schuster in 2012 to write a four-book soccer series for middle school children, especially girls, titled The Kicks. The initial novel, titled Saving the Team and released in 2013, debuted at No. 7 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Middle Grade. A kids comedy series based on the series began airing on Amazon Prime in 2015.
Morgan provided documentation that led to the resignation of National Women's Soccer League commissioner Lisa Baird and league general counsel Lisa Levine for their unsatisfactory response to allegations of sexual coercion by prominent coach Paul Riley. Morgan was later interviewed extensively by ESPN regarding the incidents that led to those resignations.
Morgan led a group of USWNT members who filed suit in 2019 against U.S. Soccer demanding equal pay with the men’s soccer team. The suit was thrown out of court.
"This decision was out of left field for us," Morgan said on TV. "I think for both sides it was very unexpected so we will definitely be appealing and moving forward. If anyone knows anything about this team–we are fighters and we'll continue to fight together for this."
In 2021, the players asked a federal appeals court to overturn the lower court decision. The U.S. women’s national team eventually won a $24 million settlement in the class-action lawsuit against U.S. Soccer. Morgan and Rapinoe appeared on Good Morning America to note their pride in the monumental accomplishment, which resulted in the men’s and women’s national teams receiving equal pay.
Morgan was the 2022 winner of Cal’s Mark Bingham Award, which goes to a Cal alumnus who graduated within the last 10 years and who has made a significant contribution to his/her community, country, or the world at large. Twenty-nine people have won the award, and only three were athletes.
Cal 100: No. 17 -- Orval Overall
Cover photo of Alex Morgan at Cal courtesy of Cal Athletics
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