Abby Wambach retires from football and social media
American football legend Abby Wambach announced her retirement in a most peculiar way after playing her final game in New Orleans on Wednesday night.
With two Olympic Gold medals, one World Cup win and 184 goals in 255 appearances for Team USA, Wambach made the move to delete both her Twitter and her Instagram accounts before the final game.
In a reasonably drastic step considering the significant role that social media plays in today’s media landscape, the move can only be seen as a task undertaken to ease the emotion of leaving the sport she loves and that she’s given so much to
Before closing her social media accounts, Wambach posted a series of tweets thanking her sponsors:
“Thank you to @nikesoccer for being there from the beginning and for your incredible support of the women’s game. You are the best.”
“Thanks @Gatorade for bringing me into the family years ago and keeping me hydrated and ahead of the game my entire career.”
In a final goodbye, Wambach spoke directly to the fans in the emotional Gatorade ad named “Forget Me”. In the commercial, the emotional Wambach is clearing out her locker taking a walk down memory lane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGQZ5FfvP3E
The retirement was also marked by a sponsored post on Instagram by Team USA to encourage fans to sign a common “Thank You” card to the legend.
#TeamUSA launched Instagram Ads encouraging fans to sign a Thank You card to @ussoccer_wnt's Abby Wambach. #smsports pic.twitter.com/kj1cPMW5LE
— Joey Maestas (@SportsJoey) December 16, 2015
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