Megan Rapinoe wins Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year award to cap stellar year

Rapinoe is the first individual football player to receive the honour since the award was first given out in 1954 Megan Rapinoe collected another accolade in a stellar year by claiming Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year honour on Monday for her performance on the US women’s World Cup-winning football team and for her campaigning off the field. “Choosing Megan as the Sportsperson of the Year was an easy decision,” Sports Illustrated’s co-editor in chief Steve Cannella said in a statement. “She is a force of nature on and off the field, a trailblazing soccer player who also proves every day how large and loud a voice a socially conscious athlete can have in 2019.” The 34-year-old Californian and her teammates sued the US football governing body in March for gender discrimination, arguing they had been paid less than the men’s squad and were provided inferior working conditions. Sports Illustrated previously gave the Sportsperson of the Year prize to the 1999 US women’s national team, who won the World Cup, but Rapinoe is the first individual football player to receive the honour since the award was first given out in 1954.