“There’s relief, there’s joy, there’s excitement, there’s fear, there’s so much grief”
BY KATE CANNING, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM (@CRISTENPRESS)
US Women’s National Team legend Christen Press has announced her retirement from professional soccer.
In an interview with Good Morning America on Wednesday 15 October, Christen announced her plans to retire from the sport at the end of the 2025 NWSL season.
“I feel a mix of everything,” Christen states. “There’s relief, there’s joy, there’s excitement, there’s fear, there’s so much grief. I have so much grief, a part of me, a piece of me, I’m losing her.”
Christen sees out the 2025 NWSL season with her current club, Angel City FC, but has played for many top clubs throughout her playing career.
Starting in the WPS league at Florida based team magicJack, Christen showed the beginnings of a promising player by scoring her first hattrick in a match against the Boston Breakers. When the WPS league folded, Christen moved to Swedish based team Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC and then Tyresö, where she continued her exceptional career.
In 2014, Christen returned to the US and joined the Chicago Red Stars before another brief spell with former club Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC. Christen returned to the US with the Utah Royals where she was named to the end of the season NWSL Best XI for the fourth time in her career.
Prior to joining Angel City FC, Christen had a brief spell with 14 appearances at Manchester United during the 2020/21 WSL season, and played in the club’s first match at Old Trafford.
Concluding her career at Angel City FC, Christen suffered an ACL injury in 2022 which required four surgeries to repair. She returned to the pitch 781 days after her injury in 2024.
Christen was also a key figure in the success of the US Women’s National Team, making her first appearance in 2012 and solidifying herself as an important player during the team’s campaigns and subsequent triumphs at both the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups.
Christen Press has proven herself as an icon on the pitch and off the pitch. With her and fellow player Tobin Heath officially announcing their relationship in 2024 after years of fan speculation surrounding “Preath” as they were dubbed by many.
A brief timeline of “Preath”
The pair first encountered one another when Christen was called up to play for the US Women’s National Team in 2012, with fans beginning speculation of their relationship around 2015.
Christen and Tobin co-founded the sports media brand RE–INC alongside fellow athletes Megan Rapinoe and Meghan Klingenberg in 2019 and in 2023 began the podcast, the RE–CAP show, which they co-host.
Opening up on Watch With Alex Cooper during the 2024 Olympics, Christen revealed that the two had been together since 2016, confirming the many fan theories.
Then in July 2025 when Tobin announced her retirement from professional soccer with The Athletic, the article referred to Christen as her wife, which representatives of the pair confirmed to be true in an email to TODAY.com that they were now “happily married”.
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