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Brandi Chastain
Brandi Chastain ESPN Weekend 2010 (cropped).jpg
Chastain in 2010
Personal information
Full name Brandi Denise Chastain
Date of birth (1968-07-21) July 21, 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth San Jose, California, U.S.
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position Defender, Midfielder, Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993 Shiroki FC Serena
2001–2003 San Jose CyberRays 52 (7)
2009 FC Gold Pride
2010 California Storm
National team
1988–2004 United States 192 (30)
Honours
Women's football (soccer)
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold 1996 Atlanta Team competition
Gold 2004 Athens Team competition
Silver 2000 Sydney Team competition
FIFA Women's World Cup
Gold 1991 China Team competition
Gold 1999 USA Team competition
Bronze 2003 USA Team competition
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 14, 2009.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of October 14, 2009

Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 to 2004. In her 192 caps on the team, she scored 30 goals playing primarily in the defender and midfielder positions. She scored a World Cup-winning penalty shootout goal against China in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final.

Chastain played professionally for Shiroki FC in the Japan Women's Football League, the San Jose CyberRays of the Women's United Soccer Association, FC Gold Pride of Women's Professional Soccer, and California Storm of Women's Premier Soccer League.

Chastain was named to the USWNT All-Time Best XI in 2013. In March 2017, she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. In 2018 she was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Early life

Chastain was born and raised in San Jose, California and began playing soccer at the age of eight. Because there was no girls' soccer team at Davis Junior High School, she played for the boys' soccer team after a successful tryout. Chastain attended Archbishop Mitty High School and helped lead the team to three consecutive Central Coast Section championships.

Playing career

Collegiate

California Golden Bears, 1986

Chastain attended University of California, Berkeley where she played as a forward for the Golden Bears and scored 15 goals as a freshman. Following her first and only year with the Bears, she was named All-American and earned Freshman Player Of The Year honors by Soccer America. Soon after, she underwent reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgeries on both knees which caused her to miss the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

Santa Clara Broncos, 1989–1990

After transferring to Santa Clara University ahead of the 1989 season, Chastain helped lead the Broncos to two consecutive Final Four NCAA College Cup appearances (for the first time ever) in 1989 and 1990. Chastain scored ten goals for the Broncos during the regular season. In 1990, she was a national scoring leader with 22 goals (50 points) and helped the Broncos to a 18–1–1 record. The same year, she was named the ISAA Player of the Year. She also won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top soccer player. She graduated from SCU with a degree in communications in 1991.

International

Of her 192 international career caps, Chastain played 89 primarily as a defender but occasionally as a midfielder. On June 1, 1988, she earned her first cap for the United States women's national soccer team during a match against Japan. She scored her first international goal on April 18, 1991. After coming in as a substitute forward, she scored five consecutive goals in the team's 12–0 win against Mexico during the 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship.

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup

The U.S. went on to win the inaugural 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup

Chastain was not called for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden, in which the U.S. won the bronze medal.

1996 Summer Olympics

Playing as a defender, Chastain competed with the national team at the 1996 Women's Olympic Football Tournament in Atlanta, the first Olympic tournament to include women's soccer. She played every minute of the U.S.' games despite suffering a third serious knee injury during the semifinal against Norway. The Americans won the gold medal after defeating China 2–1 in the final.

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup

In the quarter-finals of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Chastain scored an own goal in the fifth minute for Germany. However, she redeemed herself by scoring the second equalizing goal for the U.S. in the 49th minute, finishing a corner kick that was taken by Mia Hamm. The match ended with a 3–2 win to the U.S. to advance to the semi-finals against Brazil, which they won 2–0. Later on, Chastain who had missed a penalty kick in the Algarve Cup against China months earlier, scored the deciding penalty against the same opponent in the final, clinching the World Cup title for the U.S. in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Chastain celebrated by removing her shirt, exposing her sports bra. This led to both praise and criticism from spectators and sports commentators, and the image of the celebration is considered a key symbol of women's athletics worldwide.

Club

Shiroki FC, 1993

In 1993, Chastain played club soccer for one season in Japan's L.League for Shiroki FC. She earned team most valuable player (MVP) honors and was the only foreigner to be named one of the league's top 11 players.

San Jose CyberRays, 2001–2003

Following the success of the 1999 FIFA Women's Cup, Chastain was a founding player in the Women's United Soccer Association, the first professional women's soccer league in the United States. She played for the San Jose CyberRays all three years of the league's existence. During the league's inaugural season, she helped the team finish second in the regular season with a 11–6–4 record securing a berth to the playoffs. The team eventually won the league's championship title after defeating the Atlanta Beat in penalty kicks. Chastain started in all 19 games in which she played during the regular season, scored 2 goals, and provided 5 assists. During the playoffs, she started in both games and scored two goals.

The CyberRays finished in fifth place during the 2002 season with a 8–8–5 record. Chastain started in all 18 games in which she played, scored 4 goals, and provided 3 assists. During the 2003 season, Chastain started in all 15 games as a defender, scored 1 goal, and provided 4 assists. San Jose finished in sixth place during the regular season with a 7–10–4 record.

FC Gold Pride, 2009

In 2009 at age 40, Chastain played as a midfielder for FC Gold Pride in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), the second professional women's soccer league in the United States. She was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 WPS Draft. She started in five of the ten games in which she played. The Pride finished in last place during the regular season with a 4–10–6 record. Chastain was released by the team in February 2010.

Coaching

In 2014 Chastain started coaching soccer at Bellarmine College Preparatory where she assisted the head coach. In 2018 she assisted in leading Bellarmine to their first CCS open division championship title.

Career statistics

International

Nation Year International Appearances
Apps Starts Minutes Goals Assists
United States 1988 2 0 87 0 0
1991 13 4 546 7 1
1993 2 0 84 0 1
1996 23 23 1,961 2 7
1997 15 15 1,319 2 2
1998 24 22 1,891 5 4
1999 27 21 2,035 5 5
2000 34 32 2,520 4 3
2001 3 3 250 0 0
2002 15 14 1,061 4 0
2003 14 13 1,080 1 1
2004 20 13 1,149 0 2
Career Total 12 192 160 13,983 30 26

Clubs

Team Season League Domestic
League
Domestic
Playoffs
Total
Apps Starts Minutes Goals Assists Apps Starts Minutes Goals Assists Apps Starts Minutes Goals Assists
Shiroki F.C. Serena 1993 L. League
Total
Bay Area CyberRays 2001 WUSA
San Jose CyberRays 2002
2003
Total
FC Gold Pride 2009 WPS 10 5 450 0 0 10 5 450 0 0
Total 10 5 450 0 0 10 5 450 0 0
California Storm 2010 WPSL 5 3 5 5 3 5
Career Total 15 5 450 3 5 15 5 450 3 5

Broadcasting career

Brandi Chastain
Chastain in 2003

Chastain has worked as a color commentator for soccer matches on two networks. She broadcast for NBC Sports during the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Her work with ABC/ESPN has included Major League Soccer matches and being part of a rotation of studio commentators for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Personal life

Chastain married Santa Clara Broncos head coach Jerry Smith on June 9, 1996. Their son was born in June 2006. She is stepmother to Smith's older son, Cameron. In March 2016, Chastain announced that she would donate her brain after death for concussion research. On December 10, 2019, Chastain was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Brandi Chastain para niños

  • List of FIFA Women's World Cup winning players
  • List of Olympic medalists in football
  • List of 1996 Summer Olympics medal winners
  • List of 2000 Summer Olympics medal winners
  • List of 2004 Summer Olympics medal winners
  • List of FC Gold Pride players
  • List of ESPN Major League Soccer personalities
  • List of MLS Cup broadcasters
  • List of athletes on Wheaties boxes
  • USWNT All-Time Best XI
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