Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher retires from professional soccer, spent last 11 seasons with Chicago Stars

Former U.S. national team starter and longtime Chicago Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher announced her retirement from professional soccer on Friday.

Naeher, who retired from the national team at the end of 2024 after helping the United States win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, had signed a deal last December to remain with the Stars through the 2026 season.

With the Stars since 2015, Naeher appeared in 179 regular-season games with 558 saves and 45 shutouts. She set a club record with 11 saves in a match against North Carolina in 2018.

“The people you get to live this crazy life with are what make it truly special,” Naeher said in announcing her retirement on social media. “The ones you celebrate with in success and victory; and those that encourage and stand with you in disappointment; all the little moments we shared in between on and off the field.”

Naeher played for the now-defunct Boston Breakers before joining the Stars. For her NWSL career, she played in 224 regular-season games with 765 saves and 50 clean sheets.

“There are no words to truly encapsulate what Alyssa has meant to the Chicago Stars,” club President Karen Leetzow said. “She has lived through the greatest achievements and most trying moments in our history, and she has never wavered as a leader. Chicago has been fortunate to enjoy the greatest goalkeeper of all time in its backyard, while also sharing the joys of her journey on the game’s biggest stages."

Besides the Olympics, Naeher was also the starting goalkeeper on the U.S. team that won the 2019 Women's World Cup. She’s the only U.S. goalkeeper to earn a shutout in both a World Cup and an Olympic final.

She played in 115 games with the national team with 69 clean sheets.

“God has blessed me with a career far beyond anything I could have dreamed of,” Naeher said. “I am truly grateful for the game and for the lifelong friends it brought into my life and abundance of memories.”

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FILE - Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, of the United States, right, saves a header by Brazil's Adriana, down, during the women's soccer gold medal match between Brazil and the United States at the Parc des Princes during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

FILE - United States goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher serves the ball to a teammate during a women's group B match between the United States and Zambia at Nice Stadium at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 25, 2024, in Nice, France. The U.S. won 3-0. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - Connecticut native and former United States goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher waves to fans during a ceremony honoring her before an international friendly women's soccer match against Portugal, Oct. 26, 2025, in East Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security secretary says no indication yet of nefarious act behind FAA communications issue.

THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP's earlier story is below.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon because of communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.

The FAA notice said the ground stop was being imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there is a communications issue affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centers that direct planes en route between airports nationwide. He said FAA technicians are investigating. This is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that the last time had been after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology that air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the project last year. Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines and old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country.

But much work remains. Duffy has said that another $30 billion will be needed to complete the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve it.

The problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communication outage in September that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said, except this time on a nationwide scale. It may be linked to the outdated technology used by air traffic controllers.

“If you don’t have that ability, whether it’s because the old wires that they have are just run down or for whatever reason, you’ve got to stop airplanes on the ground,” said Arroyo, who is a former United Airlines pilot. “And not put them in the air where you’re going to risk not being able to communicate with them.”

Friday’s ground stop was different than the one after Sept. 11 because planes were not being told to land immediately and pilots likely were able to communicate with ground controllers at airports, Arroyo said.

This story has been corrected to show the Sept. 11 attacks were in 2001.

FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration logo is displayed in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - An airplane flies past the air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Nov. 8, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - A Delta Airlines and United Airlines plane are seen at Denver International Airport on Nov. 6, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)