Carla Overbeck (C) holds up the World Cup trophy along with the rest of the US team after beating China to win the 1999 Women's World Cup 10 July 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. With her is FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty ImagesNetflix is lacing up its cleats for a new project about the 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer team.
The streamer has acquired the rights to Jere Longman’s book The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World.
The project will follow the team — which included Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry, Kristine Lilly and Julie Foudy — and their journey to the Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl, where Brandi Chastain broke a 0-0 tie game to score the winning penalty kick to defeat China.
Baby Driver producer Liza Chasin will produce via 3dot productions, along with Ándale Productions’ Hayley Stool, who optioned the book and secured players’ life rights. Former HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg will also produce.
Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky (David Crosby: Remember My Name) and Krista Smith will executive produce.
“As a longtime soccer fan, I can still remember watching that groundbreaking game in Union Square,” said Netflix Films vp original film Tendo Nagenda. “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.”
