Netflix Developing A Film About The 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
By Amanda N’Duka
Netflix has set in motion a feature centered on the 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer team winning the FIFA World Cup. Who could forget the iconic moment when Brandi Chastain scored the winning penalty shootout goal and took her jersey off in celebration!?
The news was announced by Vice President of Netflix films, Tendo Nagenda. The pic will be adapted from Jere Longman’s book, The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed The World, which Netflix won the rights to in a competitive situation.
Liza Chasin, who has a multi-year first-look deal with Netflix, will produce the project via 3dot production, along with Ándale Productions; Hayley Stool, who optioned the book and secured life rights, and 56-time Sports Emmy Award winner Ross Greenburg of Ross Greenburg Productions.
The story follows the journey of the US Women’s Soccer team of the 1990s, who, in 1999, on a sweltering hot summer day, in a stadium bursting with 93,000 fans, won the World Cup in a nail-biting final against China. In doing so, the team captured the hearts and souls of millions around the world and effectively changed women’s sports forever.
Their journey ultimately paved the way for enhanced funding and recognition for women’s soccer and led to the establishment of the North American women’s soccer league.
“As a longtime soccer fan, I can still remember watching that groundbreaking game in Union Square. When I moved to Uganda in my teens, playing soccer was an important way to meet kids my own age (even if our balls were made up of dried banana leaves), Nagenda wrote via Netflix blog. “That was also true when I left my first job in Los Angeles to take summer film classes in New York City in 1999. In between stealing shots and locations, my collaborators and I would stand outside bars to see the Women’s World Cup series. Watching the USA team that summer made me forget I had no money and little more than a dream to feed me. That team, that goal, and Brandi Chastain’s unforgettable reaction – in which she ripped off her shirt and dropped to her knees in astonishment – made me believe I could do anything, and do it my way.”
Executive Producers are Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith.
