Meghan Elizabeth Klingenberg (born August 2, 1988) is a retired American professional soccer player who most recently played in 2024 as a defender for the Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).[3] A former member of the United States women's national soccer team, she is a FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time NWSL champion, and two-time NWSL Shield winner. She also played for three teams in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, for Tyresö FF in Sweden's Damallsvenskan, and for the Houston Dash in the NWSL.
Klingenberg was born in Pittsburgh and raised in the North Hills suburb of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. She has a younger brother named Drew who played college soccer at Penn State. She attended Pine-Richland High School from 2003 to 2007 and was the captain of the girls soccer team. In 2005, she helped lead Pine-Richland to the Pennsylvania state high school championship and was an NSCAA All-America selection. She was also named a Parade All-American.[4]
Klingenberg claims she enhanced her soccer skills by practicing Taekwondo, and that the martial art made her a more aggressive player. She is now a black belt.[5]
Klingenberg attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a four-year starter for the Tar Heels. She scored 18 career goals with 24 assists. Klingenberg was a highly flexible player, playing on all three lines for UNC.
As a freshman in 2007, she played in 24 games, starting 10, and earned Freshman All-ACC honors. She scored five goals with three assists and was a Soccer America First-Team All-Freshman selection. Klingenberg led UNC freshmen in all offensive categories and was an All-ACC Academic Team selection.[4]
As a sophomore in 2008, she played in 20 games, starting eight, and missed the last six games of the season playing for the US at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile. She tied for second on the team with nine assists and two goals. Klingenberg was named to the ACC All-Academic women's soccer team and the ACC Honor Roll.[4]
As a junior in 2009, she played in 26 games and played 1,668 minutes while scoring five goals with one assist. Klingenberg scored the game-winning goal in a 5–2 triumph over Wake Forest in the NCAA quarterfinals.[4]
As a senior in 2010, she was an NSCAA All-American while playing in all 24 games for the Tar Heels and was fourth on the team with 23 points. She had 11 assists (second on the team), scored six goals, and was named First-Team All-ACC.[4]
Klingenberg studied business with a concentration in entrepreneurship while at UNC Chapel Hill.[6]
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In 2011, Klingenberg was selected by the Washington Freedom in the first round of the WPS draft.[7] After the team was moved to Florida and renamed magicJack, she was traded in early June to the Boston Breakers. Klingenberg played 10 matches for Boston, starting them all and totaling 961 minutes for the season. She ended the season with one goal and two assists.[4] She also spent time at Western New York Flash where she won the 2012 Women's Premier Soccer League Elite.[8]
In 2012, Klingenberg signed with Swedish club, Tyresö.[9] During her time with Tyresö she won the 2012 Damallsvenskan.[8]
After the WPS folded, the National Women's Soccer League was created with support from the US, Canada, and Mexico.
On January 10, 2014, it was announced that the Houston Dash had selected Klingenberg with the sixth pick in the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft.[10] She finished UEFA Women's Champions League with Tyresӧ FF, before joining the Dash mid-season. She left in October 2015 after making nineteen appearances for the club.[8]
In October 2015, Klingenberg was part of a pingpong trade that had her join the Seattle Reign as she was traded by Houston Dash for Amber Brooks and a conditional selection in the 2017 NWSL College Draft,[11] then traded to the NWSL 2016 expansion team Orlando, who then traded her to the Portland Thorns FC for Alex Morgan and other considerations.[12]
On December 30, 2024, Klingenberg announced that she had departed the club.[13]
Klingenberg has played for the United States women's national soccer team at the U-16, U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels.[14] She received her first call-up to the senior squad for the 2011 Four Nations Tournament and earned her first two caps during the event.[14][15][16] She was named an alternate for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[17][18] In March 2013, she was named to the senior team roster by US WNT coach, Tom Sermanni for upcoming exhibition matches against Germany and the Netherlands.[19] Klingenberg made her debut for senior team on January 23, 2011, at the Four Nations Tournament against Canada, coming in as a substitute at seventy-eighth minute.[20] She also played in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The United States women's national soccer team won the tournament on July 5, 2015. Klingenberg started in every match of the tournament for the team. Despite seeing extensive playing time during the 2016 Summer Olympics, Klingenberg would receive sparse minutes throughout 2017 and has not been called up since January 2018.
While with the Houston Dash, Klingenberg and teammate Morgan Brian lived with the family of former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy during the NWSL season, as part of the Dash's host family program.[21]
In 2018, Klingenberg participated in negotiating image and likeness rights for the United States women's national team for the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association.[6]
In 2019, Klingenberg, along with United States teammates Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe started Re-inc, a gender-neutral lifestyle brand.[22]
Klingenberg was featured with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series in FIFA 16, the first time women players were included in the game.[23] She appeared in the series again in FIFA 23, which added NWSL teams to the game.[24]
Following the United States' win at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Klingenberg and her teammates became the first women's sports team to be honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City.[25] Each player received a key to the city from Mayor Bill de Blasio.[26] In October of the same year, the team was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.[27]
| Club | Season | League | Domestic Cup[a] | Other[b] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| magicJack | 2011 | WPS | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Boston Breakers | 2011 | 11 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 1 | |||
| Western New York Flash | 2012 | WPSL | 3 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 2 | ||
| Total | 16 | 3 | — | — | 16 | 3 | ||||
| Tyresö | 2012 | Damallsvenskan | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 10 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 22 | 1 | ||
| 2014 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | |||
| Total | 32 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 2 | ||
| Houston Dash | 2014 | NWSL | 7 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | 12 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 19 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||||
| Portland Thorns | 2016 | NWSL | 14 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | 23 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | ||||
| 2018 | 20 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 0 | ||||
| 2019 | 23 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | ||||
| 2020 | — | — | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||||
| 2021 | 22 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |||
| 2022 | 17 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |||
| 2023 | 21 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |||
| 2024 | 11 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 151 | 0 | — | 24 | 0 | 175 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 218 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 248 | 5 | ||
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 20, 2014 | Washington, D.C. |  Haiti
|
3–0 | 6–0 | 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship | [m 1] |
| 2 | April 4, 2015 | St. Louis |  New Zealand
|
1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [m 2] |
| 3 | August 16, 2015 | Pittsburgh |  Costa Rica
|
7–0 | 8–0 | Friendly | [m 3] |
Western New York Flash
Tyresö
Portland Thorns FC
United States
Individual
 | ||
| ||
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