Hello and welcome to 30 for 30 podcasts. My name is Jody Avergan.

Now we're trying something a little different this episode. Usually we bring your stories in seasons and batches a couple times a year, but here we're rolling out a brand new doc all on its own because

we think this is the moment to listen to it. In the summer of 1999, women's soccer was everywhere.

That's when Mia Hamm, Brandy Chastain, Julie Fowdy, and the stars of the 99 World Cup team

brought women's soccer to the mainstream for the first time.

It's a story a lot of us remember and a story will be hearing a lot about this summer,

but there is a deeper history.

Behind the scenes, these women had been fighting to grow the game for decades, and I will note

that that fight is not over, it continues to this very moment.

But the wild success of 99

gave the U.S. women a launch pad

to build the world's first

fully professional women's soccer league.

And that's what this story is all about.

It's brought to us by producers

Andrew Helms and Meredith Haudenot.

Here's Meredith bringing us the story of Backpass.

Julie?

So, coach.

So nice to have you with that damn video camera every time somebody walks out.

Julie Fowdy was always recording on her camcorder, and she was rolling as the national team bus headed to the opening game of the 1999 Women's World Cup.

Hi, Julie!

...