Brad Friedel was a soccer (football) goalkeeper who played in college at UCLA. He was an All-State basketball player in Ohio in high school, and was invited to walk on in basketball at UCLA, but elected to play soccer. Friedel led the Bruins to the NCAA Championship in 1990. He was first-team All-American in 1991 and 1992 and in 1992 was given the Hermann Award as the top American collegiate player. SoccerAmerica magazine named Friedel to its College Team of the Century.

Friedel played for the US national team from 1982-2005, earning 82 caps. He was on the US team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, but did not play, although he was their main goalkeeper at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. Professionally, Friedel mostly played in England, starting out with a loan from the US Soccer Federation to Newcastle United in 1994. He later played for Liverpool fro 1997-2000, Blackburn Rovers from 2000-08, Aston Villa in 2008-11, and finished his career with Tottenham Hotspur, playing with them through 2015.

In 2016 Friedel was named head coach of the US U-19 team. He also was an assistant coach for the US U-20 team that won the CONCACAF title in 2017.