Up until when the United States Women’s national team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 for the fourth time, the name of Megan Rapinoe was quite unknown in the football strata. However, the attacking midfielder and co-captain of the USWNT soccer team was one of their stand-out players, scoring six goals, including in every knockout game in which she featured. She was awarded both the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot awards for her exemplary performances.

Rapinoe was quoted as a ‘Radical Individualist’ by The Atlantic, who compared her to the likes of Muhammad Ali. “Perhaps the most powerful testimony to her greatness is that her teammates have anointed her co-captain; the radical individualist, who compulsively draws attention to herself, was elevated to leader of the more restrained collective.”

Rapinoe carries all the traits of being a perfect leader and has constantly been at arms with the football federation of the USA for various reasons. In 2016, she took the knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick during the US national anthem while being up against Thailand in a friendly — a decision that did not go down well with the US Soccer Federation.

She has also been vocal about the disparity in the wages of men and women footballers, especially in the USA. Just before the World Cup, she sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. Led by Rapinoe, the USWNT wore their warm-up jerseys inside-out to hide the US Soccer crest prior to their SheBelieves Cup game. She was one of the leaders of the USWNT’s ‘Equal pay lawsuit’ against the US Soccer Federation.

While being adept at beating top footballing nations, the USWNT have also been a vocal part of the movement against homophobia. Megan Rapinoe has been openly gay since 2012, and their victory in the 2019 World Cup was seen as a victory for all members of the LGBTQ+ movement. In fact, her teammates Tierna Davidson, Adrianna Franch, Ashlyn Harris, and Ali Krieger are all out as gay or bisexual. The last two on the aforementioned list are actually married. “

Go gays! You can’t win a championship without gays on your team - it’s never been done before, ever. That’s science, right there,” Rapinoe was quoted as saying after the win over France. “To be gay and fabulous, during Pride month at the World Cup, is nice,” she said about playing the tournament in June, as quoted by The Guardian.

When the US were on course for winning the World Cup, she was quoted as saying, “I’m not going to the White House,” when asked whether the USA team would visit Donald Trump should they win the World Cup. She received a lot of slack for this, with the US President even tweeting and saying, “Megan should win first before she talks. She should never disrespect our country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her and the team.”

In response, Megan led her team from the front against hosts France in the quarter-final, scoring two goals in a 2-1 win over their rivals. 

The 35-year-old midfielder has had a stellar career with the US national team. As of March 2020, she has 52 goals from 168 appearances and has won her country back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019. She also led her side to the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, with three goals and four assists in the competition. She also became the first footballer at the Olympics, male or female, to score from a direct corner.  

Her performances were duly noted by the footballing community, with the last year being among her most productive till date. She won seven individual honours including the aforementioned FIFA Women’s World Cup Golden Boot and Golden Ball, the Best FIFA Women’s Player, Balon d’Or Feminine, FIFPRO World XI, the IFFHS Women’s World Team, and IFFHS World’s Best Woman Playmaker. 

Her charge upfront is commendable and Rapinoe has worked on fighting racism and homophobia in the USA and in football. She describes her charge in the best possible way, “Lend your platform to other people. Lift other people up. Share your success. We have a unique opportunity in football, different to any other sport in the world, to use this beautiful game to actually change the world for better. That’s my charge to everyone. I hope you take that to heart and just do something. Do anything.”

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Franck Fife