By OkayGoal 
We have quite a few soccer babies on the way in the coming months, and Mother’s Day is just around the corner! Let’s celebrate some of the players who became moms and came right back to the game (sometimes more than once)!
Joy Fawcett
We can’t talk about soccer moms without mentioning Joy Fawcett, the OG. She paved the way for, if not all of the moms on this list, at the very least everyone who has laced up for the USWNT. Fawcett had her first child in 1994 and was prepared to walk away from the game to become a mom. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to. Fawcett played for the USWNT until 2004, at that point a mother of three.
Jessica McDonald
Jessica McDonald has always been very candid about the struggles of being a professional athlete and a single mom. She had her son very early on in her career (2012), and went on to play for another 11 years with various teams and the USWNT. Now in retirement, she is the mother of two.
Sydney LeRoux
LeRoux famously broke the internet in 2019 and changed the conversation about moms in sports with her baby bump practice picture. She gave birth to her first child, a son, in 2016 and went on to play one more season with the USWNT before retiring from international play. As a mother of two, LeRoux has played with Orlando Pride and Angel City FC.
Alex Morgan
In 2020, Morgan brought in the new era of USWNT soccer moms when she had her daughter. Morgan, of course, one of the most well-known names in the world of sports, played for another four years with her clubs and the USWNT before announcing her retirement and a second pregnancy in 2024.
Crystal Dunn
Dunn is still going very strong after having her son in 2021. A leader on the USWNT and now a member of PSG, Dunn shows no signs of stopping and is taking her kiddo along with her everywhere she goes.
Katrina Gorry
Katrina Gorry of the Australian National team, who is currently playing for West Ham, became a mom in 2021 with the birth of her daughter. Gorry is a striker of international renown and has credited motherhood with helping her overcome personal demons.
Cheyna Matthews
Matthews came back after pregnancy not once but three times. A member of the Jamaican National Team and several NWSL teams throughout her career, Matthews has three sons. She signed with the Chicago Red Stars a year after announcing her third pregnancy and retired the following fall, in October 2023.
Almuth Schult
German goalkeeper and gold medalist Almuth Schult had twins in 2020 and a third child in 2023. Schult just announced her retirement in March of 2025 after finding it hard to find a European team to sign with. With her early retirement, she also alleges that teams in Europe are not as open to signing moms.
Featured image via Getty Images
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