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Becky Sauerbrunn Mother's Day (05.07.2026)GOAL
Celia Balf

'Captaining the USWNT was more difficult' - World Cup winner Becky Sauerbrunn is balancing motherhood and life after soccer

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B. Sauerbrunn
USA

Former USWNT captain and center back Becky Sauerbrunn spoke with Soccer Girl about her career, life as a new mom and her journey to becoming a broadcaster and podcast host.

Becky Sauerbrunn has worn just about every title there is in American soccer: two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, longtime USWNT captain, and one of the most respected defenders of her generation.

Now, she has a new one: mom.

Sauerbrunn recently welcomed her son, Ronan, stepping into a role that is fresh, exhausting and beautifully messy. But even with all the sleepless nights and new-parent chaos, the former U.S. women’s national team captain says motherhood has not yet matched the pressure of leading the most successful women’s national team in the world.

“I think it would be easy to say becoming a new mom, but honestly, I think captaining the national team was probably more difficult,” Sauerbrunn told Soccer Girl. “It gave me probably more stress, more wrinkles than I currently have right now.”

That answer says plenty about what Sauerbrunn carried during her career. She was not just the steady presence at center back, known for her composure, ball-winning ability, and defensive discipline. She was also one of the program’s most important leaders away from the field, including during the USWNT’s years-long fight for equal pay. Sauerbrunn was among the players who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, helping push forward a battle that eventually led to the historic equal pay agreement in 2022.

On the field, she was just as dependable. In 2015, Sauerbrunn played every minute of the USWNT’s World Cup-winning run, anchoring the backline with the kind of consistency that defined her 16-year professional career across the NWSL and earlier versions of the league.

Motherhood may be new. It may be messy. But Sauerbrunn has spent years thriving under pressure. And, by her own admission, she has already faced harder.

  • United States v Brazil: Final - 2024 Concacaf W Gold CupGetty Images Sport

    'You really just have to surrender to it'

    Sauerbrunn retired from professional soccer in 2024, and since then has dived right into sports broadcasting, covering the USWNT for TNT and offering in-game and postgame analysis. In addition to sports broadcasting, Sauerbrunn hosts two podcasts, so she's stayed closely connected to the game despite hanging up her boots.

    It's seemingly impossible to think of a time when Sauerbrunn didn't go in for a tackle or give everything she had during a soccer game. She was a 90-minute, all-out player, but in this new chapter of motherhood, she's found herself softening and giving in.

    "You really just have to surrender to it, because there is no schedule," Sauerbrunn said about motherhood.

    "You just have to kind of go with it. He's a baby and he's just gonna do what he's gonna do, and you can try to provide structure and do routine, and sometimes it's just gonna blow up in your face. So I have learned just to go with the flow and to slow down, and it's actually really refreshing sometimes to just be like, 'Okay, I'm going to sit here while my kid plays with this rattle for 25 minutes because he thinks it's the most fascinating thing in the world.'"

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    USWNT players no longer have to choose between soccer and motherhood

    While we're in a time now where, across the NWSL and on the USWNT, there seems to be an influx of moms, from Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson to Ashley Hatch and Lynn Biyendolo, there have been moms before them who paved the way. Whether it's Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan, who continued to play soccer while becoming moms, or players like Sauerbrunn and Lloyd, who entered motherhood after their careers, there's been a full team of moms laying the foundation, all with completely different paths.

    For Sauerbrunn, this generation of players who are also moms is "wonderful."

    "I just think it's so wonderful to see so many players feeling comfortable that they can now start a family when they choose. And that's the protections that the CBA has now afforded these players. And so I know it was hard fought. And it's great to see that they feel comfortable not only having a job when they come back, but also the support that they're now getting: sport performance, medical, and these teams creating family rooms within their training facilities and at their stadiums."

    The USWNT's CBA states that players are paid an agreed-upon amount for up to six months. Once they choose and are deemed ready, they also have the right to receive a call-up to a USWNT camp after giving birth.

    "So I think just having that option now, for players to have that autonomy to decide to have a family, is such a beautiful thing."

    "I'm so glad now that people can choose whenever they want to have a baby."

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    'I always dreaded retiring from playing'

    "I always dreaded retiring from playing," Sauerbrunn said. "Largely because I loved the game so much and I loved playing it so much. And then the other part was, like, 'What am I gonna do?' All I have done is play soccer and love soccer for so long."

    The feeling of wondering what's next is relatable and real, but luckily for Sauerbrunn, she's had teammates who have looked out for her in the same way she's looked after them. So when she was in her final year of playing, former USWNT teammate Sam Mewis reached out to her about doing a podcast.

    "I was like, 'Yeah, that sounds fun.' Even if it's not a job, it just sounds fun to talk with your friends," Sauerbrunn said. "And then it rolled into my retirement and became my job."

    Live broadcasting was a different hat and a completely new muscle that Sauerbrunn wasn't as sure about.

    "I was newly pregnant and I was like, 'Oh, I don't know. I have this podcasting thing, I'm pregnant.' But then I was like, 'Let's just try it.'"

    Sauerbrunn's first opportunity came during the 2025 SheBelieves Cup and, although she thinks "TV is kind of scary," she said, "I just loved it."

    So one career became two careers, and now motherhood has made it three careers. Yet for Sauerbrunn, captaining the USWNT is still the hardest challenge she's faced.

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    Sauerbrunn never expected soccer would change her life

    "I almost always never thought I was going to make it," Sauerbrunn said when asked to reflect on whether there was a moment when she believed she could make something out of soccer.

    "But there was a moment when I was trying out for my Missouri State team and we were doing this possession drill where, if you won the ball back, you had to dribble it and stop it on the line. So I'm playing against the best players in Missouri, and I intercepted the ball and dribbled past a couple of players before stopping it on the line with a little Cruyff turn. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I could actually be OK at soccer.'"

    After that Cruyff turn, the rest was history for Sauerbrunn, who went on to break just about every ceiling in Missouri, the U.S. and beyond.

    From motherhood to fighting for equal pay, to winning world titles repeatedly, to captaining teams and some of the best teams in the world, Sauerbrunn has won just about every tackle she's faced so far.