What’s Soccer Pro Crystal Dunn’s Next Chapter? Fighting For The Recognition She Deserves

Soccer player Crystal Dunn poses for a portrait during the Team USA Tokyo 2020 Olympics shoot on … [+] November 21, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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Crystal Dunn is a recognized member of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, but she is not the face of women’s soccer. After 105 caps and seven years as a professional athlete, Dunn is setting out to change that.

“With my versatility and being one of the few Black women on the U.S. Women’s National Team, what I would have loved to see happen earlier, which I still hope will happen, is to be recognized as a face of women’s soccer,” said Dunn during a video interview from Portland where she signed a multi-year contract with the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWLS) Thorns last October.

“I am recognized as a player on the national team, which is great. But what I would like to see shift is the whole idea that this sport is predominantly White or that it is a White person’s face that is the face of women’s soccer. I have earned the right to be posterized and be a part of huge campaigns and lead the way for women’s soccer and not feel like I am just a player.”

After nearly missing the 2015 World Cup, a determined Dunn would not leave making a future roster up to chance. She responded to the snub by letting her performance on the pitch do the talking. That season, she was the NWSL’s top scorer and earned the league MVP honor.

By 2019, Dunn secured a spot on the squad and solidified a starting role – a defensive one, that is.

What largely gets overlooked is that her identity as an outside back – where she has mastered the art of defending and attacking – is not her natural position. Instead, Dunn’s instinct is to play as a midfielder where she has the freedom to be creative, technical and savvy.

Playing and training for two different positions is physically and mentally draining, yet somehow Dunn manages to handle both roles with ease and grace. And for American football enthusiasts, her balancing act is the equivalent of asking someone to suit up as a defensive back and running back – that just does not happen! Still, Dunn has firmly accepted both challenges.

“I never wanted to be a versatile player,” said Dunn. “Most people want to be great at something. If you are a striker, you want to be known for scoring goals, assisting and creating goals. For me, I did not get the luxury of working on one quality. I have to be good at scoring and creating goals and good at defending.”

In the quarterfinal World Cup match against the French women’s national team, Dunn took on the career-defining assignment of defending Les Bleues most dangerous attacker, forward/winger Kadidiatou Diani.

Before a sellout crowd in Paris’ Parc des Princes stadium, Diani, who is considered the “Neymar” of Paris Saint-Germain’s women’s club team, targeted Dunn. And France, believing that they could expose Dunn’s inexperience, soon discovered that her well-timed tackles, deflected crosses and swift recoveries would leave the Parisian striker scoreless.

“I was nervous about playing a position that I did not deem my favorite or best position. I believed in myself, but of course, outside noise creeps,” Dunn explained while reflecting on the thrilling 2-1 victory.

“I look back, and it is probably one of the best performances I have ever had as an outside back because Diani was killing the World Cup. She was scoring many goals. She was the perfect combination of what makes a dangerous striker, which is powerful, technical, savvy on the ball and ruthless.”

Coming out of the tournament, Dunn’s stellar performance should have lifted her to stardom. She should have fielded lucrative endorsement deals or posed for magazine covers. Easily, the type of treatment one would expect after winning on the world’s biggest stage – right? Instead, her accomplishments on the pitch barely made a blip on the radar.

“I did not feel the buzz that I thought I’d feel after coming off of winning a world championship. And that’s when I started to feel like I’m not branded the way I need to be branded. I’m not marketed the way I needed to be marketed,” Dunn said.

“Then with everything that happened with George Floyd’s death due to police brutality is when I realized as a Black woman in this sport, I need to take back some control.”

Dunn firmly grabbed the reins of her career late last year by requesting the Thorn’s trade and signing with the sports agency, Disrupt the Game. And so, in an hourlong conversation, Dunn explained that in her next chapter, she is betting on herself, unapologetically speaking her truth and setting out to crush the stereotype that Black women in soccer are just fast and strong athletes.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Looking back at the 2019 World Cup victory, do you believe that you received ample recognition for your role on the team?

Absolutely not is the short answer. What was great, my teammate, Megan Rapinoe, speaking out [about me] in her interviews and being asked probably about her performance. She took the time to acknowledge my performance and said that we might not have won that game without me playing the way I played. It meant a lot to me, and more of that needs to happen. I know people get caught up talking about themselves, but soccer is a team sport. Not enough is spoken about the qualities of defenders.

You have mentioned wanting notoriety. What would more notoriety look like for you? What would it mean to be given more of the spotlight?

I would love for brands to feel like it is time to move forward towards more diversity in soccer. I hope that this sport, one day, does become everyone’s sport. There are more of us in this sport. There is a bit of diversity, but ultimately, it does not feel like it is everyone’s sport. It does feel predominantly White suburbia’s. People from the middle and upper-middle class can play this sport, but there is not much room and opportunity for those who do not fit that ticket.

When I look at my career, I have made strives. Every year I’m proving more and more that I am a top player every season. My stats are aligned with elite players every year, and then when I get to the end of the year, it does not translate into more endorsements, or it does not translate into how I am viewed on the National team. I am waiting for that shift. I am waiting to have a solid season, and then by the end of the year, all my hard work translates into more opportunities, more involvement with brands, more fans or more followers.

I can only imagine what your existence has been like – going from being the only Black girl on your team to now among a handful of women. All you’ve ever wanted to do is be a top performer. But you’ve endured challenges that others don’t have to go through. And for the rest of the world, soccer is everybody’s sport.

The French Women’s National Team is so diverse. Even the men’s national team is a mixed bag. There are so many Black men – and in midfielder positions – known for being creative and technical. They have the cognitive ability to solve problems, and it is a similar position to the quarterback in the NFL. For a long time, Black quarterbacks were an anomaly.

That is why I’m so passionate about wanting to be seen as a ten because it is a position that not a lot of black women play it. Black women, I would say, are mostly center backs, outside backs, and wide forwards. Playing at a ten means that I am now combating the stereotypes of being fast, physical, and strong. I am passionate about wanting the world to see more Black women, especially in the roles that don’t fit the stereotypes that have been placed on us; that goes against everything that people have seen and use to describe Black athletes.

Let’s touch on the evolution of U.S. Soccer and the Black Lives Matter movement. Where does the relationship stand, and what is your role?

I fully believe that the world will not go back to what it was like before George Floyd. Unfortunately, this man had to lose his life in front of the world in a horrific way. People had to see that to believe and understand that this is the reality of Black people in America. We are stepping into another season, and I would love for people to wake up and say Black Lives still Matter. It is a new year, but it is the same until racism is completely taken out of society. We made progress, but how do we move forward?

We started the Black Women’s Player Collective that started as a support group for the Black women in the league who feel like they do not have the support and representation on their teams. They can go to this group and share experiences and talk about things they might not feel comfortable talking about with their club teams. We want it to flourish into something that tackles initiatives that support the grassroots level and create a pipeline for Black women to have more leadership roles.