Olivia Moultrie Is The Soccer Star Who Rewrote the Rulebook—And She Isn’t Slowing Down

Olivia Moultrie isn’t just a rising star in women’s soccer—she’s already a trailblazer. At just 19, she’s made history in more ways than one, from becoming the youngest American woman to turn pro at 13 to suing the NWSL for her right to play. Now, she’s taking another major step by signing with Red Bull and joining an elite roster that includes Neymar and Trinity Rodman. “I’ve been wanting these wings for a while,” she says, beaming. “Red Bull is definitely a company that I've looked up to my whole life. They really embody the things I find important—winning, striving for excellence, supporting their athletes.”

Moultrie’s journey to this moment has been anything but typical. At just 11 years old, she committed to playing at powerhouse UNC, only to bypass the college route entirely and go pro two years later. That decision led to a legal battle against the NWSL, where she fought for the right to compete before turning 18—a move that paved the way for future stars like 14-year-old Mak Whitham. “I knew I was going to have to go through some hard things, but I didn't plan on that being one of them,” she admits. “But no regrets. My drive for my goals is what pushed those tough decisions, and I’m happy I did everything I did.”

Now, as she joins Red Bull’s roster, Moultrie is embracing a new chapter—one that comes with high expectations but also an exciting new community. She’s already connected with fellow Red Bull athlete and USWNT standout Trinity Rodman and is eager to form new connections. “I can’t wait to continue to build relationships with other Red Bull athletes,” she says. And with her Thorns teammate Deyna Castellanos also signing with Red Bull, Moultrie is already sharing the moment. “There’s not that many of us U.S. soccer players working with Red Bull, so having another one on my team is pretty cool.”

Despite all that she’s already accomplished, Olivia Moultrie is ready to chase even bigger goals. And if her career so far is any indication, she’s not just here to play—she’s here to change the game.

Our conversation, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, is below.

Congratulations on signing with Red Bull. How's it feel to have your wings?

Oh my gosh, so great. I’ve been wanting these wings for a while. Red Bull is definitely a company that I've looked up to my whole life. I just feel like they really embody the things I find important—winning, striving for excellence, really supporting their athletes, feeling like what's important to me is important to them. Obviously, they represent a lot of very successful athletes and I hope to continue that legacy. So yeah, I can't wait to work with them.

You're joining the ranks of global legend Neymar and American standout Trinity Rodman. They're also Red Bull athletes. Have you gotten a chance to connect with either of them?

Trin! I love her. I've gotten to connect with her more recently with the national team stuff, and then hopefully we'll be able to do some Red Bull stuff together. I can't wait to continue to build relationships with other Red Bull athletes as well.

Your teammate, Deyna Castellanos, is also joining the Red Bull roster. What does it feel like to share this with her?

Yeah, that's super fun. I feel like just because there's not that many of us United States soccer players working with Red Bull, so having another one on your team is pretty cool. Just being able to share that with her, and building a relationship with her as a teammate, and also getting to work with a great brand with her. We were talking the other day–I walked into the game with my Red Bull, our preseason game against Utah, and she was like, "Oh, wait, I haven't tried that flavor yet." I had the pink one when I walked in, and I was like, "Wait, I haven't tried the purple one." So I was like, “Okay, I'll give you the feedback when I know how I like it.” And I'm like–dang, I think I like the purple one better, even though pink's my favorite color. But I love the pink one too, so…

*laughs* You were 11 when you committed to UNC and 13 when you became the youngest American women’s soccer player to turn professional. Those are some pretty weighty life decisions at a young age. Did you comprehend the enormity of going pro at the time?

I remember contemplating the decision, what were we going to do, just knowing that a change was coming, but not quite sure what that was going to look like. Obviously, my family had talked about moving to Europe and playing for clubs there because at the time, that was the pathway forward for young athletes. And then just knowing the age restriction and feeling like, okay, is there a way around that?

I do remember just being ready for something like, “Mom, dad, I need more. I need to push myself if I want to be able to achieve my goals of being considered one of the best soccer players in the world, and being able to play at the highest level. I can't wait around to then go to college. I need to challenge myself.” And so I remember being like, okay, yeah, this is a big decision, but a decision that I know in my heart that I'm ready for and that I need to achieve my goals, which are very, very important to me.

Being able to have a family that was a hundred percent in support of everything that I wanted to do–I don't think I would be where I am without that. I think that was extremely important. 

But yeah, did I comprehend what was happening? Yes, I did. But I guess I feel like you can't completely know how it's going to turn out until you do it, so maybe it's like a yes-no kind of answer because I couldn't have predicted needing to sue the NWSL to play. I knew I was going to have to go through some hard things, but I didn't plan on that being one of them.

I think my drive for my goals is what drove those tough decisions, and so I'm happy that I did everything I did. No regrets. It's definitely been a little bit of a crazy ride.

We're going to circle back to suing the NWSL. What does that look like to convince your parents at 13, like “Hey, I need to walk away from this scholarship, this college education at a great school.” You said your family was so supportive, but I am much older than 13 and my mother still doesn't trust me to make decisions. So how did that go?

Obviously, they're very supportive of my goals. Were they ready to just let me walk away from that amount of money that was basically being given to me for an education like that for nothing? A hundred percent, no. The Nike deal that I signed at 13 needed to be worth that same amount for me to be able to walk away from something like that. I was completely focused on the like, “Hey, I want to be a pro,” right? So I was the child thinking, “No, I want to follow my dreams.” They were sensible and they were making sure that financially, it put me in a good position in terms of like–okay, we're not passing something off that we're not getting anything back for. So they definitely did their parental duties, and made sure that I was going to be in a good place moving forward.

But once all of that was sorted, they believed in me and had seen me play and had talked to enough people that they trusted their opinions to be like, “No–this is actually possible for Olivia. And so therefore, we want to support her in that.” And obviously we were extremely blessed to be in a position where my family could move with me and support me all the way. I know that that's obviously not something that comes easy. 

So yeah, all in all, were they supportive? Absolutely. Did they think through everything also? Absolutely. Was I pulling the reins the whole time, saying, “Hey, I'm ready for this. I want more. Let's do it.” Absolutely. So yeah, all of the above. But we're in a great position now, and my family loves living here. What has happened has been great, and I've loved every minute of it.

That's amazing. So you sued the NWSL for your right to turn pro before you were 18, essentially changing the course of youth women’s soccer and paving the way for players like Mak Whitham. These are already pretty significant achievements. Do you think much about your legacy?

I think the fact that I'm 19 right now and still have so much more that I want to accomplish… It's like, I don't really stop to think and look back that much. People stop me sometimes when I'm like, “Things aren't going fast enough”, or “I want more.” I'm very ambitious. And so a lot of the time, the people closest to me are like, “Hey, you need to pause for a sec and look at what's already happened, because that's something to be proud of.” 

I'm really grateful to have people like that around me to remind me that the things that I went through that were hard and they were worth it. Being able to see and reap the rewards of that a little bit, watching other people be able to have success in that way–that means a lot to me.

When I was younger and watching the national team fight for equal pay, that was something that resonated with me a lot to be like, look at those women standing up for what they think is right and accomplishing that. And so now, being able to have a little piece of, I saw something that I felt wasn't right, and I fought for that. And being able to now see on the other end what has come from that has been extremely cool for me. If you're good enough, you're old enough–always said it, always will.

You talked about being ambitious. What other professional goals do you have?

I think there's big and little things. I want to go play in Europe at some point. I want to be on the national team and have a long and successful career there. I want to make World Cup rosters, Olympic rosters. I want to win those things. I want to win championships with my club team.

I feel like win is a consistent word here. I want to be successful, but also, personally, I want to be considered one of the best players in the world. 

I want to continue to grow in the league, continue to become a super influential player for my team, build my role, things like that. Someday I plan on doing that in Europe as well. I have a lot of things that I want to accomplish, and luckily I have a lot of time to do so. So far, so good. I'm really happy with where I'm at and I can't wait to continue my journey.

I love that. We recently spoke with Thierry Henry and he said the key to growing the sport in the U.S. is developing local players from a young age, figuring out how to entice kids to choose soccer over other sports. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think when you look at other places in the world, you see how big soccer is a part of their culture. It is literally a huge part of their lives. I grew up in Southern California for most of my life– Youth soccer is a huge thing there, specifically. But when you look at the United States in general, obviously the first sport you think of is not soccer, but you go to these other countries and it's like a hundred percent, absolutely the first thing you see, you think of. You see it everywhere. There are courts, kids playing pickup on the streets. 

Funny enough, my dad would always bring that up. He's like, people in other places, they do this for their lives. They're doing this to help their lives and because they love it and it's a part of their culture, and you don't have that here.

I think it's great to think about how we can make it more like that here. How can it become a bigger part of our culture, and what we think about, and make it important to us? Because you're probably thinking about football or basketball when you think about America. And so it's like, how do we grow soccer here? How do we invest and make that just as important as those things? And so it's fun to see it grow. Obviously we're not quite there here, but women's soccer is obviously growing everywhere, and so it's really fun to watch that and be a part of that. And I hope we're overtaking everything.

The World Cup being the most watched thing in the world? It's like, now we need the Super Bowl to not be the most watched thing in America. I want it to be a freaking national team game or something like that. We're getting there and it's fun to see the growth.

Perfect segue. It’s Women's History Month! Thinking about how women's basketball has gained such significant market share in the past few years, what changes would you like to see for women's soccer to really help usher it into this next era?

I think the biggest thing is prime time. The NWSL has fought for that a lot. I remember, even a couple years ago, our championships were at noon, and we had to change locations because originally there was supposed to be a championship in Portland and it would've had to be at 9:00 AM Pacific time. Think about playing for your entire season at 9:00 AM because there's a college football game later, so you can't have a prime time slot. 

So for watching women's basketball and seeing now some of the collegiate games, March Madness, seeing it on the biggest stage, the WNBA, the coverage on social media, being on prime time, being on big streaming services, things like that. I think I've mentioned this previously too–when you put us in those situations, we'll shine. Female athletes are special and we're great at what we do, and we can be just as entertaining and/or more entertaining than any male in our position. Just put us there, put us in the spotlight, and let us do our thing. 

More and more of that, I think, is what will help the game grow the most. 

How do you hope to inspire the next generation of girls?

Honestly, my favorite thing now is not only when I see little girls after a game, but when I see dads and their sons asking for an autograph, asking for a picture.

I don't want my audience to just be targeted towards women. I want it to be targeted towards athletes and people who want to be in soccer. That's the best part for me, as the game continues to grow. I want a little boy who's playing soccer to be like, yeah, I want to play like Olivia. I think the game is moving in that direction, and it's like, we don't have to just appeal to other women. We can appeal to everybody. 

In terms of my legacy, I just want people to see what I did and be like, "That's freaking awesome, and I want to do that." Whether they're a boy or a girl or they want to play basketball or football or baseball or soccer–just set a dream and go for it. That's kind of what I want my legacy to be. You can accomplish your goals, and you can follow your dreams, and you can be successful. And I think that's the most important thing, and I hope to leave that with the people behind me.

Hell yeah, look at me parroting misogyny and you being like, absolutely not. I love that. 

You mentioned you like to take bits and pieces from different people. Who are some of the athletes, soccer or otherwise. that you admire?

There's a lot. There are a lot of players that I watched that I'm like, okay, I want to take pieces from their game and grow in that way. And then seeing an athlete like Serena Williams or somebody like that who's just grown their sport so much and been successful in the things that they wanted–those are the things that stand out to me. And so it's hard to name just a few. 

I mean, Michael Jordan, when ‘The Last Dance’ came out… I've probably literally watched that 10 times all the way through. There are so many things that resonate with me about that. I just think it's super fun being a professional and then looking at other professionals in any sport and just seeing what they did to make themselves successful, how they think. It’s fun to find similarities, but it's also fun to learn from.

I think I've done that too, just being a young player and having players around me that have played at the highest level and being able to learn from them. I'm trying to be a sponge. Just grab as much as I can.

You mentioned Michael Jordan. I've seen you rocking the Travis Scott Jordans on Instagram. Are you big into sneakers?

Huge. Here… *Pivots her camera to show a wall filled with sneakers*

Oh my gosh. What's your go-to right now, either for working out or lifestyle–what are we wearing?

Lifestyle and the swag–I love Travis Scott. I have 10 to 12 pairs of Jordan Travis Scotts. I'm very, very into them. 

My recent, just put on anytime, good for anything shoe has been the Nike Vomero or the Nike V2Ks. Those have been my look good with sweatpants, look good with leggings, I'm going to the grocery store, I'm going on a flight, work for anything I need, good to work out. But yeah, in terms of the kind of top-end swaggy, you'll catch me in Travis Scotts fairly frequently.

Are those the biggest heat in your closet? What's the best shoe or the most coveted that you have?

I feel like it depends on who you're talking to because different people view different shoes above each other, which still is true. But by far, the most coveted shoe in my collection is my Jordan One Diors. I have the high-top version. I break those out on very special occasions.

But other than that, it's like Travis Scotts, the Chunky Dunkys, the Not For Resale Jordans, Off-Whites. So yeah, I definitely am a collector of high-end sneakers.

She's a sneakerhead! I just saw today that there's an animated film coming out next month–All the music is DJ Mustard, and it's about sneakerheads and sneakers.

Wait, no way. Really?

It's called ‘Sneaks.’ It's got like, Quavo, Swae Lee, Ella Mai–All these hip-hop icons and the whole soundtrack is curated by Mustard. It's crazy.

Anyway. Thinking about game day, do you have any superstitions?

Superstitions? No. Routines? Yes. 

I love keeping things the same on game day. I eat the same meals, I wake up at the same time. I like to do a little bit of movement in the morning. I always have my Red Bull on my way to the game. That's my pregame caffeine, and I do everything at the same time. I'm just very routine-orientated.

But I don't like superstitions. I feel like it's like, if one thing goes wrong, it's like, “Oh, am I not going to play my best today?” So I keep those things out of my mind. I don't want anything to affect how I'm feeling heading into the game. But I do like things to be similar on game day to prepare me, because I like keeping the things I can control the same. There's always going to be the uncontrollables, which is just being a professional athlete, and you get to roll with those as they come.

What do you always carry in your game day bag with you?

Gum. I'm like the gum supply for the whole team. I honestly am kind-of the supply store. You need a Tide stick? I have that. If you need ponytails, I have that. If you need something for your hair, I have that. Lip stuff, I have that. If you need Advil, I have that. My backpack is a “if you need something, you come to me” type of vibe. I've tried to clear it out a little bit, but I love being prepared for every situation. 

But my most important thing is my gum. If I don't have gum, I'm a little bit sad. So I always have backups and I always carry two specific ones with me: Extra spearmint and the Trident tropical citrus.

I'll play with [the mint] in, and then the orange gum is like, “I've had lunch and I want something sweet.”

And lastly, what's on the pregame playlist?

Ooh, recently it's been Tate McRae's new album, So Close to What. Love her. Literally no skips, start to finish, on the way to the field. Hit play and enjoy.