ALYSSA NAEHER NAMED 2024 U.S. SOCCER FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

img

Alyssa Naeher has cemented her place in soccer history. The 36-year-old goalkeeper has been named the 2024 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year, becoming only the second goalkeeper in 40 years to receive this prestigious honor.

Naeher’s incred­i­ble year reached its peak dur­ing the Paris Olympics, where she played every minute of the tour­na­ment, allow­ing only two goals and lead­ing the U.S. Women’s Nation­al Team to their fifth Olympic gold medal. Her clean sheet in the cham­pi­onship match against Brazil was his­toric, mak­ing her the first goal­keep­er to keep shutouts in both a World Cup Final and an Olympic Final.

“This is an incred­i­ble hon­or, cap­ping off what has been a very spe­cial year with this team,” Nae­her said. “This group of play­ers, coach­es, and staff brought some­thing tru­ly spe­cial to the field all year, and you could feel we had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to achieve great­ness.”

The hon­or comes just months after Nae­her announced her retire­ment from inter­na­tion­al soc­cer in Novem­ber. Though her time with the U.S. Women’s Nation­al Team has come to an end, fans can look for­ward to see­ing her in action as she con­tin­ues her club career with the Chica­go Stars in the NWSL for the 2025 sea­son.

Naeher’s achieve­ment was deter­mined by votes from fans, play­ers, coach­es, the U.S. Soc­cer Board of Direc­tors, and select mem­bers of the media.

As the sec­ond goal­keep­er to ever win Female Play­er of the Year—following Hope Solo in 2009—Alyssa Nae­her has proven her­self to be not just a game-chang­er but a his­to­ry-mak­er.

Congratulations, Alyssa, on an extraordinary year!