Alex Morgan Reveals How She Dealt with Pushback After Welcoming Daughter

Alex Morgan is candidly sharing her experience balancing motherhood with her soccer career.

The former professional soccer player, 36, sat down with Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper on the latest episode of the podcast to talk about everything regarding her career, from fighting for equal pay to advocating for moms in the sport. During the conversation, the mom of two opened up about how “very difficult” it was to balance being a new mom with her career.

“It was very difficult because there was no rules. There was no standard for moms in the [National Women’s Soccer League] or even on the national team,” she told Cooper, 31. “I had to draft up an agreement with the general manager at [the Orlando Pride], so that my daughter could travel with me and a child care provider, like a nanny, and also that they could come into team meals.”

“They pushed back on coming into the meal room. I’m like, ‘No, I need my daughter like she needs to be with me,’ ” she explained, adding that there was also hesitation on allowing her daughter into the locker room or giving her a game ticket to the suite.

Morgan, who shares son Enzo, 5 months, and daughter Charlie, 5, with husband Servando Carrasco, went on to explain that she had to balance first-time motherhood with creating rules and standards for the league.

“It was interesting because I was like being pulled in a million directions,” she said. “I was trying to be a great mom, and I was trying to be a great soccer player, but I was also now having to like write new rules and advocate for all moms [for] the future [of] soccer. And so, it was just like a lot at once.”

The doting mom recalled a time in the NWSL when she had demanded that the team purchase an extra plane ticket for her daughter, who was under 2 years old.

“I got on the bus and I got a ticket for my seat, and it was like 27B, and I got one ticket, and I was like, ‘I have my daughter with me.’ They’re like, ‘yeah, well she’s under 2, so she could sit on your lap,’ ” she said. “And I was like, … we’re going from San Diego to New York. Excuse me?”

“I said, ‘I’m sorry. I cannot go on this trip if you don’t get a seat for my daughter. This is not happening. This is not. I will walk off this bus,’ ” she recalled, adding that they eventually bought an extra ticket for her daughter. “I feel fortunate to be in that situation to be able to have said that and set then a standard across the league for now it being a child one and over having their own seat.”

She concluded, “There were a lot of challenges to work through [and] a lot of barriers to break down.” 

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Elsewhere in the conversation, the retired USWNT athlete spoke about what her life looks like outside of the soccer world. Morgan shared that while she tries to keep up with some of her soccer friends, her time ends up being dominated by her family.

“I do try to keep up with the girls, but it’s not like every day we’re on group texts and texting and stuff,” she admitted. “I got kids.”

“I have mom group friends that don’t even know who Alex Morgan is, which I’m so happy with,” Morgan continued. “It’s so nice. I just show up and I’m just like one of the moms.”