Keeping score. Hope Solo has been through plenty of highs and lows — both personal and professional — since beginning her U.S. soccer career.
The Washington native was a goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team from 2000 to 2016, winning two Olympic gold medals and a FIFA World Cup title. She was widely considered one of the best in her field, but her legacy has been tarnished for some fans due to multiple controversies.
Before her contract was officially terminated, Solo was suspended more than once by the U.S. Soccer Federation, most notably in 2016 after the Rio Olympics. When the American athletes were defeated by the Swedish team and knocked out of medal contention, Solo called her opponents “a bunch of cowards.” She was officially axed from the team following her comments.
“For 17 years, I dedicated my life to the U.S. Women’s National Team and did the job of a pro athlete the only way I knew how — with passion, tenacity, an unrelenting commitment to be the best goalkeeper in the world, not just for my country, but to elevate the sport for the next generation of female athletes,” she wrote in a social media statement in August 2016. “In those commitments, I have never wavered. And with so much more to give, I am saddened by the Federation’s decision to terminate my contract.”
Solo continued at the time: “I could not be the player I am without being the person I am, even when I haven’t made the best choices or said the right things. My entire career, I have only wanted the best for this team, for the players and the women’s game and I will continue to pursue these causes with the same unrelenting passion with which I play the game.”
While reflecting on her time in the professional arena, Solo alleged that she wasn’t always treated fairly by her teammates. “It was a mean girls club,” she claimed on a January 2021 episode of “The Players” podcast. “Most players have come from rich, white families. That is the culture of the United States women’s national team. It is a very privileged, white culture. … It is a much more open and welcome environment [now].”
At the time, Solo argued that she felt “bullied” by some of her colleagues. Despite attempting to make a change, she claimed she and teammate Carli Lloyd were treated like outsiders. “People were not nice to us,” Solo continued. “{eople were not welcoming, they didn’t invite you to sit at the dinner table. It was really difficult growing up on the national team for me in a social aspect, as well as learning the game.”
Things have been equally as challenging for the University of Washington alum off of the field. In 2018, Solo suffered a miscarriage after announcing she and husband Jerramy Stevens were expecting twins. The couple, who wed in 2012, welcomed twins Lozen and Vittorio two years later.
Solo found herself in the headlines once again in March 2022 after she was arrested in North Carolina for allegedly driving under the influence with her children in the car. After she was released from police custody, her lawyer addressed the charges in a statement to Us Weekly.
“On the advice of counsel, Hope can’t speak about this situation,” Rich Nichols said. “But she wants everyone to know that her kids are her life, that she was released immediately and is now at home with her family, that the story is more sympathetic than the initial charges suggest, and that she looks forward to her opportunity to defend these charges.”
Scroll down to look back at Solo’s ups and downs over the years:
