Abby Wambach

Mary Abigail Wambach was born on June 2, 1980, in Rochester, New York, the youngest of seven siblings. She began playing soccer at the age of four, leading to a prolific youth career where she scored 27 goals in her first three games after being moved to the boys’ league. Wambach honed her signature diving header technique during these early years at Our Lady of Mercy High School, where she lettered in both soccer and basketball and scored 142 goals. Her exceptional talent earned her numerous accolades, including being named to Parade magazine’s High School All-America Team and National High School Player of the Year by Umbro and the NSCAA.

Wambach attended the University of Florida from 1998 to 2001 on a full athletic scholarship, contributing to the Gators’ first NCAA national championship. She set program records for goals (96), assists (50), and points (242), earning SEC Freshman of the Year in 1998, SEC Player of the Year in 2000 and 2001, and first-team All-American honors three times. Professionally, she was drafted second overall in the 2002 WUSA draft by the Washington Freedom, where she was named WUSA Rookie of the Year in 2002 and MVP of the Founders Cup III in 2003. She later played for magicJack and her hometown team, the Western New York Flash in the NWSL, where she continued to be a leading scorer.

Her international career with the U.S. Women’s National Team spanned from 2001 to 2015, marked by 184 goals in 255 matches. Wambach earned two Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2012, and a FIFA Women’s World Cup championship in 2015. Notably, her late equalizer against Brazil in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal set a record for the latest goal in a FIFA competition and earned her an ESPY Award for Best Play of the Year. She was honored as the 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the first American woman in a decade to receive the award. After retiring from soccer in 2015, Wambach embarked on a new chapter as a New York Times best-selling author with “Forward” and “Wolfpack,” a motivational speaker, and an activist for equality and inclusion.