On Saturday night, Sydney Leroux announced to her 1.1 million instagram followers that she would be taking a step back from professional soccer to focus on her mental health. Leroux, a forward for Angel City FC, wrote on Instagram that she owes it to herself and her children to “take a step back and take care of me.”
The 34-year old Leroux has been a mainstay in professional women’s soccer for over a decade. Though she came up through the Canadian youth system, she opted to play for the United States women’s national U-20 team in 2012. Shortly after, she became a central piece of the USWNT, appearing with the national team for both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the latter of the two making her a world champion. She totaled 77 caps before phasing out of the national team around 2017.
On the club side, Leroux has played for a variety of US and Canadian teams for nearly fifteen seasons. Of the eight clubs for which she has suited up, three don’t even exist anymore — Seattle Sounders…
