Abby Wambach Joins ESPN as TV Analyst: Latest Details, Comments, Reaction

Former USWNT superstar Abby Wambach will be joining ESPN as "an analyst and a contributor," according to Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press.

Wambach's role with the network won't be soccer-specific, according to Peterson and Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, as she'll work with ESPN Films and Outside the Lines. The Associated Press also reported she'll host her own podcast, Fearless Conversation with Abby Wambach.

The podcast will tackle topical issues in the sporting world, per the AP report.

"Talking and reporting on things that I'm passionate about really, really was the selling point to me," Wambach told the AP. "Because I don't want the rest of my life to be based on the fact that I played soccer. I want to be able to venture and learn about different things."

Wambach, 35, scored 184 career goals in 252 caps during her 15 years with the USWNT, the most in history among both men and women. She played in four FIFA World Cups with the United States, winning a title in 2015, and she was also a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2012).

In 2012, she was named as the FIFA Women's Player of the Year. She retired in December 2015.

She has been in the news for more controversial reasons since, however. She criticised USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann for having "a bunch of these foreign guys" on the roster, per the AP—comments that drew major backlash.

And she pleaded guilty in April to a DUI in Portland, Oregon.

But for most of her career, Wambach was an ambassador for women's soccer and women in sports in general, fighting for equal rights while remaining arguably the most decorated soccer player in United States history.

That combination gives her a unique perspective, one that should enrich ESPN's coverage.

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