Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, 1972) is a retired American professional soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm scored 158 international goals, more than any other player, male or female, in the history of soccer and is the third most capped female player in soccer history behind Kristine Lilly and Christie Rampone, appearing in 275 international matches.

Hamm was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year the first two times that award was given (in 2001 and 2002), and is listed as one of FIFA's 125 best living players (as chosen by Pelé). She was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as well as the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

She is the author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life and appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon called Hamm, "Perhaps the most important athlete of the last 15 years."

Early life 
Born in Selma, Alabama on March 17, 1972 to parents Bill and Stephanie Hamm, Mariel Margaret Hamm, nicknamed Mia, was the fourth of six children. She was born with a club foot and had to wear corrective shoes as a toddler. Hamm spent her childhood on Air Force bases with her parents and five siblings. The family moved many times and resided in several places including San Antonio, Texas, and Italy.

Hamm played sports from a very young age. She played for Notre Dame Catholic High School in Wichita Falls, Texas as a freshman and a sophomore. As a new player in 1987, and the youngest by over a year, she often started as a forward but never made a goal. Hamm then attended Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia for one year, and helped the Lake Braddock soccer team win the 1989 state championships. Mia Hamm's brother played sports, inspiring her to do so as well.

University of North Carolina 
Hamm attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she helped the Tar Heels to four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women's championships in five years (she sat out the season of 1991 to concentrate on the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China). North Carolina only lost one game in the ninety five she played on the team. She was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year for her last three years. She also won ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 and 1994.

Hamm was also a member of the American National college team that played in the 1993 Summer Universiade and lost to China, obtaining the silver medal. She was the leading scorer with six goals. She graduated from college with the all-time records for her conference in goals with 103, assists with 72, and total points with 278.

Playing career 
International 
Women's national team 
Hamm joined the United States women's national soccer team at age 15, becoming the youngest ever to play on the national team.

In 1991, when the women's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, Hamm became the youngest American woman to win a World Cup championship at the age of 19.

During the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, Hamm scored two goals but the American team could not defend its title, falling to eventual champion Norway 1-0 in the semifinals. The U.S. team captured third place. Hamm even played goalkeeper for a few minutes in a game against Denmark after the expulsion of keeper Briana Scurry.

Hamm was a key part of the U.S. team for the first women's Olympic soccer tournament in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Hamm scored one goal in five games as the host Americans won the gold medal. She was injured in the final moments of the gold-medal match, a 2-1 win over China, a game witnessed by a record crowd of more than 76,000 fans.

Hamm again played for the U.S. National Team in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted by the United States. She scored two goals. Hamm also connected on a penalty kick as the U.S. defeated China in a shootout in the final match. That match surpassed the Atlanta Olympic final as the most-attended women's sports event, with more than 90,000 people filling the Rose Bowl.

She helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was also chosen by her fellow U.S. Olympians to carry the American flag at the Athens Closing Ceremonies. After the Olympics, Hamm and her teammates went on a "farewell tour" of the United States, which finished on December 8, 2004 against Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In the game, which the U.S. won 5–0, Hamm assisted on two of the goals. Hamm is one of three longtime national team members who announced their retirements from international play at the end of the tour; the others are longtime captain Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (Fawcett did not play due to back surgery after the Olympics). Hamm retired at age 32 with a record 158 international goals.

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments 
Mia Hamm competed as a member of USA soccer teams in four FIFA Women's World Cup: China 1991, Sweden 1995, USA 1999 and USA 2003; and three Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004; altogether played 38 matches and scored 13 goals at those seven global tournaments. Hamm with her teams finished third in 1995 and 2003 world cup, and first in the other five tournaments.

Club 
For the majority of Hamm's career, there was no fully professional women's soccer league in the United States. As a result, she played only three seasons of club soccer. In 2001 she signed for theWashington Freedom in the newly established Women's United Soccer Association. The league suspended operations indefinitely in September 2003, but Hamm finished her short club career as a champion when the Freedom won the Founders Cup in that final season.

Retirement 
On May 14, 2004, she announced her retirement effective after the 2004 Athens Olympics, expressing an interest in starting a family with her husband, Nomar Garciaparra. She retired from the sport in 2004, after playing her last game in the 2004 Fan Celebration Tour to commemorate the U.S. women's national team's victory in the 2004 Olympics.

Honors and awards 
Hamm was named the 1997 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.

On May 22, 1999, Hamm broke the all-time international goal record with her 108th goal in a game against Brazil in Orlando, Florida. Later that year, in June, Nike named the largest building on their corporate campus after Hamm.

In March 2004, Hamm and former U.S. teammate Michelle Akers were the only two women, and the only two Americans, named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that organization's 100th anniversary.Other accolades include being elected Soccer USA's female athlete of the year five years in a row (1994-1998), MVP of the Women's Cup in 1995 and the winner of three ESPY awards, including Soccer Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year.

In a friendly game against Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm scored her 151st international goal; she has long held the record in that category for any player, male or female. This match also marked her 259th international appearance; only her teammates Kristine Lilly and Christie Rampone have played in more internationals.

In 2007, during her first year of eligibility, Hamm was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame Women's Professional Soccer
Hamm was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2006 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on March 11, 2008.

Championships 

Personal life 
Her adoptive brother, Garrett Hamm, died on April 16, 1997 of complications from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease. Hamm established the Mia Hamm Foundation in part to support patients and their families who benefit from bone marrow transplants.

Hamm was first married to her college sweetheart Christian Corry, a United States Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter pilot; they divorced in 2001.
Hamm married then-Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003, in Goleta, California in a ceremony attended by 300 guests. On March 27, 2007, Hamm gave birth to twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline. Though born five weeks early, each girl weighed over 5 pounds (2.3 kg) at birth. Twins run in both Hamm's and Garciaparra's families. The couple also welcomed their first son named Garrett Anthony born in January 2012.

Coaching and other work 
Hamm is a global ambassador for FC Barcelona. She also hosts an annual celebrity soccer game in Los Angeles to support her foundation which raises funds for families needing marrow and cord blood transplants.

In 2012, after Pia Sundhage's departure as head coach of the United States women's national soccer team, Hamm joined Danielle Slaton and Sunil Gulati as a member of the search committee for Sundhage's successor.

She is the author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life and appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.