LOS ANGELES – Crystal Dunn, a member of the U.S. women’s national team’s 2019 Women’s World Cup-winning squad, announced her retirement on Thursday, bringing an end to her decorated 12-year professional career.
Dunn was a fixture on the national team from 2016 through 2024, taking part in two World Cups and three Olympic Games. She played six matches en route to the World Cup-winning run in France in 2019 and was also a regular starter during the team’s gold medal-winning run at the Olympics in Paris in 2024. The 33-year-old was also an accomplished player in the NWSL and was a three-time champion in the league, notching two titles with the North Carolina Courage and a third with the Portland Thorns.
She also played for Gotham FC and Chelsea, where she won a WSL title in 2017 under current USWNT head coach Emma Hayes. She was last under contract with Paris Saint-Germain.
“This decision has not come easily, but I am at peace and deeply fulfilled with all that I have accomplished. I’ve achieved nearly everything I dreamed of in this sport and gave all I had to give,” Dunn wrote in part in a post on Instagram. ” I’m ready to embrace the life that awaits me on the other side. I look forward to spending more time with my family and being a more present mom. This was not a decision made lightly, but was one made with immense gratitude for everything I’ve experienced as a professional soccer player. “
A native of New York state, Dunn was a talented youth player, winning an NCAA title with the University of North Carolina in 2012 and the U-20 Women’s World Cup the same year, a member of the last U.S. team to win that title. She made her senior team debut the following year, and in 2014, she was drafted by the Washington Spirit.
She truly burst onto the scene as an attack-minded phenom in her second season with the Spirit, scoring 15 goals in 20 games and winning the league’s golden boot award and MVP honors. Her uptick in form, though, came after she was left off of Jill Ellis’ roster for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, thrusting her back into the national team conversation following the snub. The USWNT’s historic depth in attack, though, meant she was converted to left back and spent much of her national team career there.
“I just remember that 2019 World Cup and the [2024] Olympics, literally, that last game, she saved us,” Mallory Swanson, the lone goalscorer in the gold medal game in Paris in 2024, recalled from the NWSL’s annual media day, hours after Dunn announced her retirement. Dunn’s skill was on full display on that day, especially as Brazil put in a strong offensive showing against the USWNT.
Dunn matched her accomplishments with an unmatched ability as a versatile player who was amongst the elites, regardless of what position she played. She brought her attacking attributes to her play as a left back and had a brief comeback as a forward with the USWNT in between the 2023 Women’s World Cup and 2024 Olympics, but also deputized as a No. 10 at times during her three years with the Thorns.
“She’s one of the GOATs for soccer, for sure, and as an outside back, she doesn’t get enough credit,” her ex-USWNT colleague Trinity Rodman said.
In the late stages of her career, Dunn was one of a handful of USWNT players who balanced motherhood with life as a professional athlete after welcoming her son Marcel in 2022. She was one of the beneficiaries of the USWNT’s 2022 equal pay settlement with U.S. Soccer which, among other things, guaranteed child care for all national team players regardless of gender, and was previously one of the many players who were plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the federation.
“I saw Crystal go through a lot of things,” Sophia Wilson, who recently welcomed her first child, said. “I saw her have a baby, go through that. I feel like I’ve known Marcel for his whole life so she’s one of the main reasons I knew I could do the same thing. I could have a baby and come back and play because I saw Crystal do it and she’s just such an inspiration. I mean, I can’t say enough things about what she’s done for the game, what she’s done for this league and we’re going to miss her, for sure. I don’t think there’ll be another Crystal.”
Dunn was a mentor to a younger generation of players in more ways than one, lending a helping hand as one era of the USWNT passed the torch to the next one. Wilson described her as resembling an older sister, while Rodman called her “a cool aunt” for the less experienced players.
“Crystal and I get along really well and vibe off of each other really well because our personalities are both very loud but she led the team in a different way than, like, a Becky Sauerbrunn,” Rodman said. “I think they were best friends but also polar opposites. She led by example but also [was] very, very vocal. She was really good at connecting with the younger players but also having that relationship with the older players so setting the standard while also empathizing with the newer players, which I thought was really good.”
Her playfulness also stands out as something her teammates will miss fondly.
“I think off the field, just gonna miss her dancing in the locker room, her DJ vibes, all the just like impact that she’s had,” Swanson, who is also a new mother, said. “Just seeing her with Marcel and being a mom, and just being around Marcel, he’s like, literally the cutest little boy. She left the game a better game than she found it, which is what we all strive to do. And I’m just gonna miss her and her goofiness and funniness and all of it.”
Dunn made the last of her 160 appearances for the USWNT in May of last year, playing 90 minutes in a 3-0 win against China. She played her final game in September, playing a half for PSG in a 3-0 win at Lens in the league.
