Brandi Chastain

Women’s Soccer Analyst

Brandi Chastain

Brandi Chastain joined ESPN in March 2011 as a studio analyst for the network’s unprecedented coverage of FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.

She is one of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s most accomplished players, having won two FIFA World Cups (1991 and ’99) and two Olympics gold medals (1996 and 2004).  She played for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1988 to 2004.  Chastain, along with teammates Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, Kristine Lilly and goalkeeper Briana Scurry, anchored the golden era of U.S. women’s soccer beginning with the 1996 Olympics and capped by the 1999 Women’s World Cup. 

She played for the U.S. in 192 international matches, scoring 30 goals.  On Sunday, July 10, 1999 in a sold-out Rose Bowl at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup title match, Chastain provided one of the greatest moments in sports with the World Cup-clinching penalty kick.  Her “thrill-of-victory” moment after the kick – removing her shirt to celebrate in her sports bra – remains one of the seminal images in sports.  That moment thrust Chastain and her teammates into international spotlight.  It is also the most-watched soccer event in U.S. television history – seen by 18 million people on ABC. 

A 1990 television and communications graduate of Santa Clara, Chastain in 2004 co-authored It’s Not About the Bra – How to Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back Into Competitive Sports, addressing the issues of sportsmanship, gamesmanship, and excessive parental involvement.  In the book and in off-the-field endeavors, she teaches young athletes how to develop leadership skills, find and become role models, and give something back to their team and community. 

Chastain worked with NBC Sports as a soccer analyst during the 2008 Olympics.

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