Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is a soccer player who has
been a member of the award winning United States women's national
soccer team since 1991.
She attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, helping
take the team to three state championships.
Chastain enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in 1986,
where she was awarded the Soccer America Freshmen Player Of The Year
award. Soon after this she underwent reconstructive surgery on both her
knees which caused her to miss much of the 1987 and 1988 seasons. In
1989, she transferred to Santa Clara University, leading their soccer
team to two final four NCAA appearances before graduating in 1990.
Chastain first represented her country on April 18, 1991 against Mexico.
She came off the bench to score five consecutive goals in a 12-0 United
States win, in what was a qualifying game for the first FIFA Women's
World Cup. Team USA went on to win the World Cup, staged in China, in
the same year. Chastain next participated with the national team in the
1993 CONCACAF championships of New York, another tournament which the
Americans won. Later in 1993 she joined the West Team, which won the
gold medal at the Texas Olympic Festival.
Her first era as a member of the national team came to an end on August
8 of that year, but she made the team once again in 1996 and participated
in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, helping the Americans win the gold
medal.
Chastain became a household name in 1999, when, after helping the United
States beat China in the final game of that year's Women's World Cup,
she celebrated by taking off her jersey and kneeling down in the middle
of the field with only her sports bra and her shorts on. This action
was seen by many as a demonstration of female power by Chastain. She
was signed to a million dollar contract by Nike afterwards, and other
companies, such as Playboy Magazine, sought her presence on their products.
Chastain played on the US women's national team until her last game
on December 6, 2004. The team's coach, Greg Ryan, recently revealed she
was no longer in the team's plans. She participated in the Women's United
Soccer Association from its formation in 2001 until its suspension in
2003.
