She's a legend on the soccer field, but U.S. captain Julie Foudy means so much more away from the game, where her her work on behalf of women's sports and labor issues has made her presidential material.

The joke swirling around the U.S. women's team had to do with Julie Foudy's plans this fall – captain the Americans to their third World Cup championship – and, well, shouldn't she be setting her goals a little higher.

''She should be running for governor of the state of California,'' proclaims U.S. coach April Heinrichs.

''Joy [Fawcett] has been joking that if we didn't have the Olympics next year, she'd make her run for governor,'' Shannon MacMillan proffers. ''She'd have my vote.''

''Ah, she couldn't beat Arnold Schwarzenegger,'' laughs Aly Wagner, Foudy's usual foe during the U.S. team's daily breakfast debates. ''I don't know if I agree with her political views, so I don't know if I'd vote for her.''

Truth be told, there are a lot of influential Americans out there – at least one former U.S. president among them – who'd love the chance to punch a chad for Foudy. The best jokes always are ringed in truth. But why settle for being governor of the union's most dysfunctional state when you could be living in the White House?

No, seriously.

''She's as good as I've ever seen, as far as presidential material,'' says Donna Lopiano, the influential executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. ''President of the United States. That's how good she is.''

''Julie is an amazing woman,'' says WUSA Commissioner (and former U.S. women's coach) Tony DiCicco, who sits with Foudy on the league's board of governors. ''She's somebody, like, if she put her mind to it, could be just – I was going to say she could be president of the United States, but I didn't want to seem arrogant. But if she got into politics, she could be president.''

Heinrichs wasn't entirely kidding about the governor's race, either.

''I think it would be absolutely amazing if Julie got into politics,'' she says. ''Because she has the intelligence, the charisma, the contacts, and the support of the people around her – and she also has the ability to be the advocate of the people.''

It's not Foudy's skills in midfield – her fluency in the transition game, her knack for playmaking, her ability to battle for balls and quickly find outlets – that lure such testimonials, although they'll draw far more attention these next few weeks than, say, whether she'd repeal the odorous new car tax.

The 32-year-old veteran, who has spent nearly half her life with the national team, is pivotal to the Americans' prospects in the fourth Women's World Cup, especially when what she provides as captain is figured in. She's a leader within the team, expert at keeping the mood light and her teammates' focus on impending work.

HIGHER CALLING. The soccer field, she says, is her sanctuary – ''That's what I love, that's my passion'' – but hers is a much higher calling.

Foudy in the past decade has emerged as one of the most eloquent and powerful voices in the fight for women's rights, particularly on the athletic field, and in labor issues, primarily on behalf of her fellow national team and WUSA players.

She served a two-year term as president of the Women's Sports Foundation, and followed that with landmark work on a Presidential commission investigating Title IX. It was her impassioned criticism of the panel's final report that persuaded Secretary of Education Rod Paige to keep the 30-year-old anti-discrimination law intact.

''I liken her to this era's version of Billie Jean King,'' says Lopiano, who has worked closely with King for years. ''She reminds me so much of [King's] energy, her total understanding of women's rights, of athletes rights, of human rights. It's part of her tissue, part of her makeup. No one had to explain it to her. She lives this righteousness, same as Billie.

''They're so much alike.''

''Billie Jean King opened iron-clad doors to women in sports, and Julie is breaking down some oak doors,'' DiCicco says. ''Julie means that much to women's athletics.''

A line can be drawn, suggests John Langel, the U.S. players' counsel, from Jackie Robinson to Arthur Ashe to King to Foudy.

''What, is he on drugs?'' Foudy stammers when she hears about it. ''Or on my payroll?''

Foudy didn't become politically conscious until she'd left Stanford University 10 years ago with a biology degree and signed with Reebok, which introduced her to Women's Sports Foundation officials such as King, the foundation's founder, and Lopiano.

King, a tennis legend who founded the Virginia Slims women's tour and the Women's Tennis Association and fought for increased prize money for women at the U.S. Open, served as Foudy's mentor.

''I first met her in probably 1994,'' Foudy says. ''The [national] team was going through this transition of getting more support, yet contractually we didn't have a lot of say. … I had this incredible meeting with Billie Jean King, this all-day roundtable discussion, and the theme of the day was, look, if you want things to change, you've got to do it yourself.''

With King serving as adviser, Foudy rallied the U.S. players to negotiate with U.S. Soccer a superior contract for the 1996 Olympics, pushed for improved marketing deals for the players, then following the 1999 Women's World Cup led the charge for a monumental deal that John Langel, the players' lawyer, calls ''incomparable.''

''I often ask the other women if everyone appreciates [Foudy's] significance,'' Langel says. ''And I don't hesitate to tell them we would not be where we are [except that] she carried us. …

''She has these beliefs of what's right. She's got great instincts, great intuition. She's very smart. She's a quick study. She is the [players'] CEO and COO.''

Her relationship with King and Lopiano led Foudy to the Women's Sports Foundation presidency, which led to a spot on the Title IX review commission. She and Olympic swimmer Donna DeVarona refused to sign the panel's final report, which called for loosening some of Title IX's strictures on university athletic budgets, instead issuing a minority report charging that discrimination against women in college athletics continues to exist.

Paige's decision to keep all provisions of Title IX intact was a victory for Foudy, who, with the Women's Sports Foundation, is now angling for better enforcement of the law.

POLITICAL JUNKIE. Foudy's involvement in all these causes, while juggling a soccer career (and the accompanying off-field demands) and a marriage (to San Jose CyberRays coach Ian Sawyers), and occasional broadcast work, amazes even those closest to her.

''She's the ultimate juggler,'' says Sue Rodin, Foudy's agent. ''She takes multitasking to a new level.''

Foudy says she has trouble relaxing. ''It's genetic,'' she says. ''I see my dad, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm him.' He's 65 years old, and he's like, 'We're going to go here and go here and do this and do this,' and I'm like, 'Dad, slow down.' And he's like, 'Hello? Who's the pot calling the kettle black.'''

From her mother, Foudy gets her endearing (in her mom's words) ''silly personality.''

''I use the word 'wacky,''' DiCicco says. ''She'll say anything to anyone at any time. She's totally out there. Shyness and Julie never collide.''

''She's a people person,'' Brandi Chastain adds. ''She's welcoming whether you just met her 30 seconds ago or you've known her 30 years. She makes you feel part of the group. She lets people kind of be who they are. Even though her political side tries to change people, every other aspect of her is free spirit and allows other people to be free-spirited.''

Foudy is a political junkie, of liberal bent, who's rarely met an issue she wasn't dying to debate.

''Ranting about politics is her hobby,'' Chastain explains. ''It's what gets her going in the morning. It's like coffee to Julie. We let her go – it's actually good comedy in the morning.''

Sawyers says he'll be trying to keep his eyes open at breakfast when Foudy, also a newspaper junkie, will sigh loudly. ''I'll ask what's wrong, and she starts, 'I can't believe this! These people …'

''I'm thinking, 'Let's wait at least until noon before correcting all the wrongs in the world.''

Foudy says the veterans on the national team are liberal democrats because ''they've had to listen to me for 15 years.'' Her family was conservative, but she leaned left as she ''got more and more into issues and politics.'' She worked with the Clintons and Gores during the previous administration and sat ''between Chelsea and Tipper'' during one of Clinton's State of the Union addresses.

The younger players veer more to the right, which frustrates Foudy no end. After one heated debate, Catherine Reddick decorated Foudy's room in Bush posters.

''I got underneath the sheets to go to sleep,'' Foudy said, ''and there's a 'W sign. Oh well. Cat's a minister's daughter. And she's from the south.''

Foudy isn't sure what she'll do when she retires following next year's Olympics, but politics isn't likely.

''I love politics,'' she says. ''I love reading about it. I love world events. I love history. But if that means I would be a politician, I would say no. Just because there's so much that drives me crazy about politics.''

Something more behind-the-scenes, then?

''I would love that,'' she says. ''If I didn't have to run, and I didn't have to do all the other BS associated with it, I would love [a career in politics], because you're in a position to make a difference, which is always a position I like. But I don't think I have the energy for it.

''It feels like we've been politicians for 10, 15 years [with the national team], selling the game and shaking hands and wooing people to be investors or sponsors, whatever it is. Which has been great because you get to meet so many great people, but at the same time it's exhausting.''

So what's next?

''Part of me wishes I was a little more directed, I mean, I don't know what the heck I'm going to do. I don't have a 10-year plan.''

by Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French