Biography of Brandi Chastain

Born July 21, 1968, in San Jose, California, Brandi Chastain is a defender on the U.S. Women’s 1999 World Cup Champion Soccer Team, and she scored the winning goal during the final game of the 1999 Women’s World Cup Championship. She attended college at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

She is currently an assistant coach at the top-five-ranked women’s soccer team at Santa Clara University. Her husband, Jerry Smith, is the head coach of the women’s soccer team at Santa Clara University. She has been featured around the world as a spokesperson for Nike, Volvo, Powerbar, Gallery Furniture, and 24-Hour Fitness, among others.

Her National Team credits include:

Her first national team appearance was on June 1, 1988, in a game against Japan. She scored her first goal on April 18, 1991, in a game against Mexico. She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. Women's National Team at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Chastain started and played every minute of the USA’s five matches at the ’96 Olympic Games.

Brandi Chastain began training with the national team in September 1995, after spending two years away from the program. She showed she still had an excellent read of the game, and she came into camp at very high fitness level despite not having competed in an international match in two years. She played with the 1993 U.S. women's team, and the team became the champions of the CONCACAF Championship in New York. Chastain also played for the gold-medal-winning West Team at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in San Antonio, Texas. She was a member of the U.S. Women's National Team that won the first FIFA Women's World Championship in China in November 1991. She scored five consecutive goals in the USA’s 12-0 victory over Mexico in CONCACAF, qualifying for the first-ever women's world championship, and these were her first international goals. She finished the CONCACAF tournament with seven goals.