- Category:
- Richest Athletes › Soccer Players
- Net Worth:
- $3 Million
- Birthdate:
- Jul 21, 1968 (56 years old)
- Birthplace:
- San Jose
- Gender:
- Female
- Height:
- 5 ft 6 in (1.7 m)
- Profession:
- Football player, Sports commentator
- Nationality:
- United States of America
What is Brandi Chastain's Net Worth?
Brandi Chastain is a retired soccer player and coach who has a net worth of $3 million. Brandi Chastain played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004. She had 192 caps on the team, and helped the US win the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1999. In addition to her international career, Chastain played professionally for the Japanese soccer club Shiroki FC Serena and the American clubs San Jose CyberRays, FC Gold Pride, and California Storm.
Early Life and High School
Brandi Chastain was born on July 21, 1968 in San Jose, California. She began playing soccer at the age of eight. Due to the absence of a girls' soccer team at her junior high school, Chastain played on the boys' team. She went on to play soccer at Archbishop Mitty High School, where she helped lead her team to three consecutive Central Coast Section championship titles.
Collegiate Career
Chastain first went to college at the University of California, Berkeley, where she played as a forward on the Golden Bears women's soccer team in the 1986 season. With her 15 goals that season, she was named Freshman Player of the Year by Soccer America. However, Chastain would miss the subsequent two seasons due to ACL surgeries on both of her knees. She went on to transfer to Santa Clara University, where she helped lead the Broncos to Final Four NCAA College Cup appearances in both 1989 and 1990. In the latter year, Chastain led the nation in scoring with 22 goals, and won both the ISAA Player of the Year and Honda Sports Awards.
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US Women's National Team
Chastain began playing with the United States women's national soccer team in mid-1988, earning her first cap during a match against Japan. She scored her first international goal in April of 1991 as the US won the inaugural CONCACAF Women's Championship. Later in the year, Chastain helped the US win the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup by defeating Norway 2-1 in the final. Although she did not participate in the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, she did play at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where she helped the US win the gold medal in the first-ever women's soccer tournament at the Olympics.
Chastain returned to the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1999, and in the final against China scored the deciding penalty goal to clinch the US its second title. Famously, she celebrated by taking off her shirt and revealing her sports bra, an image that became instantly iconic in the media.
What Happened to Brandi Chastain's Bra?
Amazingly, in the aftermath of her now-iconic moment, Brandi did not think much of what is now considered the most famous sports bra in the world. To her it was just a bra. Actually, it was a special bra even before it became iconic, as it was a prototype built by Nike and given to her before the World Cup. Brandi has revealed in recent interviews that she even continued wearing it regularly it games and workouts. In 2009 she donated the bra to the Sports Museum of America. Unfortunately that museum folded into bankruptcy just a few months after opening. The bra briefly disappeared in the aftermath of the museum's folding, but it was eventually found and returned to Brandi. Today the bra is framed and hanging in her home.
(ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Club Play
The first senior soccer club Chastain played for was the Japanese club Shiroki FC Serena of the Nadeshiko League. For her sole season with the club in 1993, she earned MVP honors. Chastain returned to club play in the early 2000s after she helped found the Women's United Soccer Association, the first professional women's soccer league in the US. For all three years of the league's existence, she played for the San Jose CyberRays, winning the league's championship title with the team in 2001. Chastain didn't play for a club again until 2009, when she played as a midfielder for the Women's Professional Soccer team FC Gold Pride. After the team finished in last place that season, she was released in early 2010. Chastain went on to play briefly for the California Storm in the Women's Premier Soccer League.
Coaching Career
Following her playing career, Chastain coached soccer. In 2014, she became an assistant coach at the all-boys Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. Chastain helped lead the school to its first-ever CCS open division championship title in 2018.
(Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
Sports Broadcasting Career
Chastain has done some color commentary for television soccer broadcasts over the years. In both 2008 and 2012, she broadcast for NBC Sports during the Summer Olympics, and in 2011 did studio commentary for the FIFA Women's World Cup on ABC and ESPN. Chastain has also done commentary for MLS matches.
Personal Life & Real Estate
In 1996, Chastain married Jerry Smith, the head coach of the Broncos women's soccer program at her alma mater Santa Clara University. Together, they have two sons, including an older son from Smith's former relationship.
In 2005, Chastain published her book "It's Not About the Bra: Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back into Competitive Sports."
In October 2000, Brandi and Jerry paid $2 million for a home in San Jose, California. They still this home today. It's estimated value is $4-5 million.
