Soccer star Brandi Chastain’s expression of joy upon winning the championship game of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup — tearing off her jersey in celebration after scoring the final penalty kick and securing victory for Team USA against Team China — is an indelible image for sports fans around the world. And it’ll soon come to life in The 99’ers, a film that celebrates the US Women’s National Soccer Team and their nail-biting victory in the massively successful tournament that set attendance and TV viewership records.
The 99’ers follows the 1990s US Women’s National Soccer Team who, under the scorching summer sun and in a stadium filled with 93,000 fans, defied the odds to emerge victorious in a dramatic penalty kick shootout against China in the 1999 Women’s World Cup final. This monumental win captivated millions worldwide and forever altered the course of women’s sports.
Weather Girl lead Julia McDermott (Women of the Movement) will play Chastain in the upcoming drama film, joining lead Zoey Deutch as trailblazing US women’s soccer executive Marla Messing, The People We Meet on Vacation’s Emily Bader as powerhouse star Mia Hamm, Emilia Jones as midfielder Julie Foudy, and Alessandro Nivola as coach Tony DiCicco.
Rounding out the cast of players are Shaunette Renée Wilson (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Resident) as goalkeeper Briana Scurry, Perry Mattfeld (Chad Powers, The Idea of You) as National Soccer Hall of Fame forward Michelle Akers, Annabel O’Hagan (Fallout) as Carla Overbeck, Lizzy Greene (Ransom Canyon, A Million Little Things) as Kristine Lilly, and Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan, The Novice) as Joy Fawcett.
Emmy Award winner Nicole Kassell (Sirens, Watchmen) directs the film, which is written by Katie Lovejoy (Love at First Sight, To All the Boys: Always and Forever), Dana Stevens (The Woman King, Fatherhood), and Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Ben Is Back), and is an adaptation of Jeré Longman’s book The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World.
Work out where the stars shine.
Solve the classic numbers game.
Piece together the big picture.
Turn shapes into something bigger.
Swap letters and emojis into words.
Find the path hidden in words.
Just add vowels.
Put the words back together.
Liza Chasin produces as part of her creative partnership with Netflix, which sees her produce feature films via 3dot Productions. The latest film from the partnership, The Life List starring Sofia Carson has spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Netflix Global Top 10 Films List (English). Hayley Stool and Ross Greenburg also produce alongside executive producers Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith.
Netflix will exclusively broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States and Canada for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments. The event is among Netflix’s growing lineup of premium live sports, including the highly-anticipated upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano mixed martial arts fight and the record-setting Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 boxing match that was 2025’s most-watched professional women’s sports event.
Additional soccer content on Netflix includes Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team, which documents the squad’s effort to win the 2023 title; the Emmy-nominated Beckham; Captains of the World, a José Mourinho episode of The Playbook; and Vini Jr.
Stay tuned to Tudum for more news about the film.
