"It just feels like a miss." That's Kelley O'Hara on never getting to play in her hometown of Atlanta — and for a player who won two World Cups, three league titles, two Olympic medals and an NCAA All-American, the sting of that one empty checkbox is telling.
The timing never worked. She signed with the Atlanta Beat ahead of the 2012 WPS season, only for the league to fold days later. She had conversations with Atlanta United's front office around 2017 about a future women's team — but it was years away. She retired in 2024 with NJ/NY Gotham FC. The NWSL announced Atlanta's expansion bid for 2028 the following year.
"That would have been the dream," she said on the Full Time podcast. It wasn't. That's just how it went.
From the pitch to the studio
O'Hara is 37 now, settled in Jersey City, and building a second career in broadcasting. She was one of the earlier NWSL players to move into podcasting — Just Women's Sports brought her in to anchor its flagship show back in 2020, before she developed further shows on the same network. Her first live broadcast came at the 2022 NWSL Championship, a JWS preshow livestreamed from the fan zone alongside former Stanford teammate Ali Riley.
"They're just letting us rip. That's a choice," she laughed. CBS noticed anyway. A producer reached out while she was still playing and told her there'd be a seat in the studio when she was done. There is now — she's part of CBS's women's soccer panel covering the NWSL and UEFA Women's Champions League, alongside Darian Jenkins, Janelly Farías and Jen Beattie.
"I'm just going to say it like it is, and I'm not trying to be anything that I'm not," O'Hara said. "The easy part has been being myself." The hardest part, she deadpanned: "Getting hair and makeup every day."
The 2019 World Cup still sits at the top
When pushed to rank her medals, O'Hara doesn't hesitate: 2019 World Cup, first. She started six of seven matches in France, and had the assist on Christen Press's opener in the 2-1 semifinal win over England. The celebrations after the final were exactly what you'd expect.
"When we won in 2019, I was like, 'Oh, we're going big, girls. Nobody's sleeping for the next 96 hours.' Honestly, I didn't have a voice when it was finished."
Her 2021 NWSL championship with Washington Spirit sits second — and the reasoning says something about how competitors think. "I wanted that just as bad as a World Cup." That's not false modesty or club loyalty talking. Domestic titles are harder to weaponize for legacy arguments, but O'Hara clearly didn't need the narrative validation.
She grew up in Fayetteville, south of Atlanta, and credits the 1996 Olympics — specifically the U.S. women's gymnastics team, not the football — with lighting the fire. "I wanted to be an Olympian before I even knew I wanted to be a soccer player." She got the Olympics. Twice. She got the World Cups. The one thing she never got was playing in the city that started it all.
O'Hara says she hasn't had any contact from NWSL Atlanta yet, but that she'd "love to be involved." The 2028 expansion launch is still years out. The studio, for now, is where she is — and by the sound of it, she's found a way to be comfortable there too.
