Megan Rapinoe Biography

Undoubtedly, with the presence of prominent female footballers such as Megan Rapinoe, the meaning and status of women's sports have undergone many changes. The 35-year-old American winger, by gaining experience in school and university teams, achieved an important position in the world of football and now plays in one of the leading teams in the American League. Apart from Megan's high ability and talent in football, what sets her apart from other footballers, both men, and women, is her social, political, and cultural activities. She has always used his position and fame to advance her ideologies. Let's move forward to have an in-depth look at the personal and professional life of Megan Rapinoe. 

All You Need to Know About Megan Rapinoe Biography

The 35-year-old American footballer is undoubtedly the subject of curiosity of all people, most the fans and also other female footballers who are looking for a role model to follow. Keep reading to learn more about

 Megan Rapione life story.

Megan Rapione information

In the following part of 

Megan Rapione Biography

, you can find some general information about her listed down here.

Megan Rapinoe Bio

• Full Name

  : Megan Anna Rapinoe

• Nickname

  : “Pinoe,” “Rapinho “or “Rapinohdinho"

• Profession

  : Professional Football Player

Megan Rapinoe Physical Stats

• Weight

  : 60 Kilograms

• Height

  : 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm)

• Eye Color

  : Brown

• Hair Color

  : Blond 

Megan Rapinoe Football Information

• Position

  : Midfielder, winger

• Jersey Number

  : 15

• Professional Debut

  : 2009

Megan Rapinoe Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth

  : July 5, 1985

• Birth Place

  : Redding, Shasta County, California, US

• Zodiac Sign

  : Cancer

• Megan Rapinoe Nationality:

  America

• Megan Rapinoe Religion:

  Christianity

Megan Rapinoe Early Life

In this section of

Megan Rapinoe Biography,

we will have a glance at his early life. Megan started her amateur football career in the teams coached by her father until high school. Megan and her sister then joined the Elk Grove Pride club, in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL). She spent three years with the ELK and later on attended the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, and started playing for the Portland Pilots on full scholarships. In her first year, she could help her team to end the season undefeated and won the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship. She spent almost three years in Portland Pilots, between 2005-2008, and later on, she continued her football career more seriously.

Megan Rapinoe Profile

In this division of Megan Rapione biography, we will review her professional career from her early days until now that she is indeed one of the greatest female wingers in football history. In 2009, she was picked second in the 2009 WPS Draft by the

for the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) which is the highest division of soccer in the United States at the time. Soon she could establish herself in the team's arrangement and even named the league's All-Star Team. Almost after a year, in December 2010, following the Chicago Red Stars ceased operations Megan signed an agreement with expansion team Philadelphia Independence. After playing in four matches and scoring one goal, while she was away with the USA national team for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, she was sold to MagicJack with a contract the was said to be $100,000 while at that time the average salary of a female footballer was $25,000.

At the end of the 2011 season, Megan helped her new side with her 10 appearances and 3 goals, and the team finished third in the league standings but unfortunately on October 25, 2011, the WPS decided to end the MagicJack franchise, so Megan, as a free agent chose to continue her football career in Australia, even for a very short period. Afterward, the Australian W-League team

signed with Megan as a guest player for two games. As her short-term contract with Sydney ended, Megan joined her other national teammates to play with the Seattle Sounders Women in between camps with the national team. After only two games but with great impacts, Megan left Seattle to move to France and play for Olympique Lyonnais Féminin in Division 1 Féminine. She signed her new contract in January 2013 for a reported €11,000 (or approximately $14,000) a month.

She then made her UEFA Women's Champions League debut match against FC Malmö on March 20. In that tournament, Lyon reached the final and despite their defeat, Megan became the fifth American woman in history to play in a Champions League final. Exactly a year after her agreement, in January 2014 Megan officiated that she soon would return to her country to join the Seattle Reign for the entire 2014 season. It did not take long for Megan to make a positive change with her presence in the team.

The team that had barely scored in their last ten games, with the presence of Megan, improved their goal-scoring ability and turned their league record around. This valuable player has been playing for this team since 2013. Her influential presence was so important to the team and their fans that in September 2019, the

recognized Rapinoe, along with 11 others, as a Reign FC Legend, joining the 36 previous legends Stay tuned to read more about

Megan Rapione Biography 

and get to know him better.

Style of Play

Megan is great at dribbling and beating her rivals. She smartly knows how and when to play just one-and two-touch football. Her technique and style of play are similar to Barcelona players'. She plays one or two touches, simple passes, and a quick return of the ball. She can greatly lead her teammates so that she would be able to be in a better position and get the ball back immediately. Furthermore, as she is strong on the ball and doesn’t lose it, her ability to cross the ball is amazing. She can bend the ball quickly inside the box which allows her teammates to catch the ball and score easily. Also, she can control the ball with either foot, an ability that is actually rare in men’s and women’s soccer.

Reception

Ever since football became popular and widespread in the world, it has been considered a men's sport. But over time, with the advent of versatile women, the patriarchal scenario of the football world changed dramatically. One of these successful women is Megan. She is widely famous for her crafty style of play and activism. It is safe to say that after the 2011 FIFA Women World Cup, her fame and reputation got doubled. After that tournament, Megan's hometown, Redding, honored her with a parade and named September 10 "Megan Rapinoe Day". Later on, at the 60th annual Oregon Sports Awards which was held on 12 February 2012, she was awarded Harry Glickman Professional Female Athlete of the Year, and at the same year, she was chosen as one of ten female soccer players shortlisted for the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year award.  As also mentioned earlier, she is famous for her social and cultural activities. Thanks to her great impact and raising awareness of LGBT people in sports, on November 10, 2012, she was awarded the board of directors Award by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. 

Goal Celebration

When it comes to Megan Rapinoe's goal celebration, everyone would remember her gesture with an outstretched arm and the big but serious smile on her face. The celebration after her goals and her sturdy gesture shows the extraordinary confidence of this 35-year-old player. Her move is not to the liking of many, which Megan believes is because the world is not yet ready for confident women.

Megan Rapinoe Outside Football

Megan, like many famous footballers, has worked with several commercial companies. She had endorsement agreements with Samsung and Nike which she also featured in some of their commercials that in one of which she appeared along CR7. Besides, she has deals with a clothing company Wildfang and  the medical device company, DJO Global. Moreover, Megan has always been involved in a wide range of activities alongside her football career. She is one of the activists in  women's team's equal pay complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission since at least 2016. This campaign even filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation and accused them of gender discrimination. Though she is considered as one of the most -paid female footballers but her income is not all even with men footballers with the same level.

So Megan and three other famous footballers, Christen Press, Tobin Heath, and Meghan Klingenberg launched thier own company to be financially independent. According to Wall Street Journal, the goal of the company, called Re-Inc  to suggest re-invention or re-definition—is to increase the ranks of female business owners and seek investment from women and minorities in the largely male-dominated fashion and venture-capital worlds. The founders plan to use sustainable materials and take a gender-inclusive approach to product design.

Megan considered their co-founded company as another front in the team’s fight for equal treatment. She said: "It’s a battle that in recent years has included players’ protests of playing on artificial turf and, on May 8, national-team members’ gender-discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The federation has denied discriminating against female players. The players’ yearslong equal-pay battle is important but has yielded slow incremental change," Furthermore, regarding Megan Rapinoe we should mention her own company, Rapinoe SC that is established with the help of her twin sister, Rachael. The base of this company is Megan's or humanity and authenticity. She stated that: “My career thus far as a footballer is literally a dream that has come true.

Certainly, I have worked hard and earned these opportunities but I also believe I am lucky to be living my dream in an environment that embraces and celebrates who I am as a gay female athlete. I am lucky and privileged to be given the platform and the opportunity to speak out on issues of equality and human rights. I have had the opportunity to work with organizations such as HRC, LA Gay, and Lesbian Center, GLSEN, and iACT and be a part of their mission of equality for all people.”  The infinite goal of Rapinoe SC is to help people of all ages and backgrounds tap into their own individuality and uniqueness by living in the true essence of Being Your Best You. In their company, the Rapinoe sisters provide training clinics and sell lifestyle apparel.  Stay tuned as we take a look at Megan Rapinoe biography to have a better view of his personal life.

Megan Rapinoe Personal Life

Perhaps the point that made Megan so different from other women footballers is her personal life.  Megan Anna Rapinoe was born on  July 5, 1985, in the united states of America into Jim Rapinoe, and her mother, Denise Rapinoe.

Megan Rapinoe childhood

was spent in Redding, California where she was brought up with her five siblings. Her mother has a son and a daughter from his previous marriage,  Michael and Jenny, and then her older brother Brian was born and after that, Megan was born with her twin sister Rachel, five years later. Megan was only a three-year-old baby girl that she saw her older brother playing football and so she became interested.

During her childhood, Brian was her idol but he was later got addicted and due to his indulgence in drug abuse, he couldn’t continue his football career. He was even got prisoned when he was 15 and Megan was 10. Having had a strong relationship with their brother, to avoid the trap of addiction, Megan and her sister Rachel directed their lives and focused extensively on their soccer career. Brian, on the other hand,  has since made a firm decision to avoid drugs after seeing his younger sister's success in international soccer and not being able to be with his family.

Family, Children, and Relationships

When Megan Rapinoe was a freshman in college she knew that she is lesbian. Her family and her teammates know about her sexual orientation but it was not got public yet.  Shortly before the 2012 London Olympic Games, She went public in the July 2012 edition of Out magazine and revealed that she had been in a relationship with Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh since 2009, as she believed “being true to yourself is a beautiful thing." Her relationship with the Australian soccer player ended in 2013 and after that Megan started dating Sera Cahoone, a sub pop recording artist.

They announced their engagement in 2015 but it didn't end well as they broke up in 2016. Following her breakup, she met the Seattle storm soccer player, Sue Bird and since late 2016 they are in a serious relationship. Sue is also socially active in the field of equal pay for female athletes, LGBTQ rights, racism, and police brutality.  In 2018,  The Body Issue,  an edition of ESPN, The Magazine that features dozens of athletes in nude and semi-nude photographs, published the picture of Sue and Megan as the first same-sex couple on the cover. Megan and her love partner announced their engagement t on October 30, 2020

Philanthropy

We can assume that all her side activities are considered benevolent because the result of her activities will be to the benefit of a large population. Rapinoe has done humanitarian work for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. In 2013, she was selected as the ambassador of  Athlete Ally, which is a nonprofit organization that focuses on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports. She was also one of the pioneers of the "Common Goal" campaign which was started by Juan Mata of Manchester United. The member of this campaign donate one percent of their wages in support of other soccer-related charities.

Legal Issues

Regrading Megan Rapinoe's legal issues, we can refer to her lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation. In 2019, Megan and 27of her USA national teammates filed a lawsuit and claimed nearly $67 million in damages as part of its gender discrimination. According to Times, in their letter to U.S. Soccer, the women’s team pointed to their “remarkable” success during the 2019 World Cup. “We witnessed higher revenue numbers, higher ratings, more fans, more enthusiasm,” the players wrote.

“The tired, arcane, irrelevant arguments and protestations of the male-dominated soccer world fell apart during those weeks.”. On the other hand, USA soccer stated that they are surprised by the complaint and that it had increased its investment in the women’s team in recent years. They explained that "the gap in pay stems from “differences in aggregate revenue generated by the different teams and/or any other factor other than sex,” arguing that the men’s and women’s teams are “physically and functionally separate organizations. " Washington Post reported. 

Megan Rapinoe Career Statistics

Following Megan Rapinoe biography, in this part, we would have a rundown of his Career Statistics. 

Clubs

The 35-year-old American winger started her senior career in 2009 with Chicago Red Stars. She spent a year with Red Stars and after 38 appearances and 3 goals she joined Philadelphia Independence in 2011. There, she only made 4 appearances and scored 1 goal, and later on that year, she moved to MagicJack. She could make 10 appearances and score 3 goals for the Florida-based club and then signed with Sydney FC.

She couldn't last that long with the Sydney side, so after only 2 matches and 1 goal, she returned to America to play for Seattle Sounders Women in 2012. In a year and after only 2 games she once again changed her side and joined Olympique Lyonnais. She spent a year in France and with 28 appearances and 8 goals she came back home to play in OL Reign, the Washington-based club.

International

For the first time, Megan was invited to represent her country under-16 national team in 2002. In the following year, she was called to join the under-19 USA national team and her first camp with the under-19 team occurred in January 2003 in Chula Vista, California. She could play for the U-19 team in a European tour to the Netherlands and Germany in July 2003 and also she could score her first national goal on March 1, 2013, in a match against Mexico. With the U-19 she also experienced the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand during which she could perform very well and acceptable.

Afterward, she was invited to the United States women's national soccer team in 2006. In July she made her senior debut in a friendly match against Ireland. But it was in October that she could score her senior debut goal in a friendly match against Taiwan. As time passed, she could successfully establish her position on the team's arrangement, she was even chosen as the co-captain of the USA national team alongside Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan from 2018 to 2020. During her national career, she went through the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2012 London Olympics, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

Megan Rapinoe Honors

Undoubtedly, Megan can be said to be one of the most successful women footballers. She has won many awards over and over again during her career. Awards that show the constant effort of this woman in this patriarchal world. With Lyon, she could win the Division 1 Féminine in  2012–13, the Coupe de France Féminine in 2012–13, and the UEFA Women's Champions League runner-up in 2012–13. Definitely, we can consider Megan Rapinoe as one of the most influential players in the national team of the United States. As an American winger, she could win the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015, 2019, the Olympic Gold Medal in  2012, the Algarve Cup in 2011, 2013, 2015, the CONCACAF Women's Championship: 2014, 2018, the SheBelieves Cup in  2018,2020,2021, the Tournament of Nations in 2018, the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in  2020.

Along with all her group successes, Megan proudly won tons of individual honors. She won the Algarve Cup MVP in 2013, the NWSL Second XI in 2013 and 2015, and the NWSL Best XI in 2018. Furthermore, She was awarded as IFFHS World's Best Woman Playmaker in 2019, the IFFHS Women's World Team in 2019, The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2019, FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball in 2019, FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Boot in 2019. She is also chosen as the IFFHS CONCACAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020 and FIFPro World XI in  2019 and 2020.

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