Early life

Foudy attended Mission Viejo High School where she was a two-time First-Team All-American. She was honored as the Player of the Year for Southern California three straight years (1987-1989), as well as the Los Angeles Times' soccer player of the decade.

Stanford University

Foudy was a four-time NSCAA All-American at Stanford University and finished her collegiate career with 52 goals, 32 assists and 136 points. She was named the 1991 Soccer America Player of the Year and the 1989 Soccer America Freshman of the Year as was a two-time finalist for the Hermann Trophy in 1991 and 1992. She helped lead the Cardinal to NCAA tournament playoff berths all four years and was the team's MVP for three consecutive years from 1989-1991. She was the recipient of the Stanford Outstanding Freshman, Sophomore and Junior Athlete Award and was named to Soccer America's College Team of the Decade for the 1990s.

Playing career

Club

Sacramento Storm

Member of the Sacramento Storm, which won the 1993, 1995 and 1997 California State Amateur championship.

Tyresö FF

In 1994, Foudy played for Tyresö FF in the Damallsvenskan in Sweden joining her national team teammates, Michelle Akers, Mary Harvey and Kristine Lilly.

San Diego Spirit

Foudy held the captain's position for her WUSA team, the San Diego Spirit. When the WUSA suspended operations in September 2003, Foudy was the official player's representative to the ongoing efforts to resurrect the league.

International

Foudy played in four Women's World Cups, winning two FIFA Women's World Cups—in 1991 and 1999. She also played in three Summer Olympic Games, winning an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, Silver in 2000, and Gold again in 2004. Her retirement after the 2004 Olympic Games, alongside fellow soccer legends Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett (and the unanticipated retirement of Brandi Chastain following the change of USWNT coaches), marked the end of what the media labeled the "golden era" of US women's soccer.

Honors and awards

Foudy was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame for the class of 2007 alongside former teammate Mia Hamm. Foudy and Hamm's induction was the first all-female class of the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Foudy was awarded the 1997 FIFA Fair Play Award for her work against child labor, the first woman and first American to win the award.

For her accomplishments in soccer in the United States, Foudy was awarded the Golden Blazer in 2015; the most important blazer in sports that does not involve a cabin.

Sports broadcasting career

Foudy has served as an in-studio analyst for ABC, ESPN and ESPN2's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008, and has provided on-air commentary and analysis during United States Women's National Team matches since then. She has also coanchored ABC and ESPN telecasts of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2007 season of Major League Soccer, including the MLS Cup. She appeared as a pundit for the ESPN coverage of the UEFA Euro 2008 championship finals, together with Andy Gray and Tommy Smyth. For the 2010 FIFA World Cup, she served as a reporter and analyst, doing features, interviews and analysis in South Africa for ESPN. Foudy is also a reporter for ESPN's investigative program, Outside the Lines. She served as a sportsdesk reporter for NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics. She also fills in for Dana Jacobson on ESPN First Take. Since late-2010, Foudy has been paired with Ian Darke on ESPN's primary broadcast team for women's soccer telecasts, as was the case for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

On Aug. 20th, 2013, ESPN Films teamed up with ESPN analyst and reporter Julie Foudy to premiere their new Nine for IX film on the 1999 Women’s World Cup Team, The 99ers. The film, directed by Erin Leyden, and produced by Foudy, tells the incredible story of the 1999 United States women’s national soccer team, using Julie's personal behind the scenes footage. Reuniting key players from the 1999 squad and talking with current U.S. players as well, the film examines how women’s soccer - and women’s sports as a whole - has changed since that epic day at the Rose Bowl.

Personal and political activism

Foudy graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1989 and Stanford University in 1994. She was accepted into Stanford Medical School in 1996, deferred for two years, and ultimately decided not to pursue a career in medicine.

Foudy is an advocate for women's rights and children's rights. She served as the President of the Women's Sports Foundation. Additionally, Foudy received the FIFA Fair Play Award for her well documented trip abroad to examine the working conditions of her then-sponsor, Reebok's factories.

In 2002, she was named by United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige to the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, a panel charged with reviewing the effects and implementation of the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation. Foudy took strong exception to the commission's final report; ultimately, though, her advocacy on the issue and the sharply-worded dissenting Minority Report by Foudy and fellow commissioner Donna de Varona are generally conceded to have halted the implementation of the commission's recommendations.

In 2006, Julie Foudy and her husband Ian Sawyers launched The Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy. The week-long Academy is for girls ages 12-18 and weaves together sports and leadership. The Academy has received national and international attention for creating leaders both on and off the field.

Foudy gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Isabel Ann, on January 1, 2007. Her second child, a son named Declan, was born in December 2008.

She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]