A website dedicated to the deep history of American soccer — starting in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1866.

games
34,841
players
49,175
teams
6,139
competitions
228
0 250 500 750 1,000 1884: 4 games 1884 1885: 9 games 1886: 7 games 1887: 11 games 1888: 38 games 1889: 10 games 1890: 3 games 1891: 57 games 1891 1892: 2 games 1893: 1 games 1894: 22 games 1895: 2 games 1898 1905 1906: 4 games 1907: 2 games 1908: 11 games 1909: 11 games 1910: 9 games 1911: 12 games 1912: 22 games 1912 1913: 57 games 1914: 90 games 1915: 114 games 1916: 81 games 1917: 86 games 1918: 74 games 1919: 54 games 1919 1920: 131 games 1921: 182 games 1922: 225 games 1923: 137 games 1924: 246 games 1925: 306 games 1926: 303 games 1926 1927: 318 games 1928: 415 games 1929: 404 games 1930: 268 games 1931: 188 games 1932: 82 games 1933: 116 games 1933 1934: 170 games 1935: 159 games 1936: 164 games 1937: 147 games 1938: 198 games 1939: 248 games 1940: 175 games 1940 1941: 167 games 1942: 128 games 1943: 129 games 1944: 139 games 1945: 119 games 1946: 159 games 1947: 138 games 1947 1948: 134 games 1949: 109 games 1950: 136 games 1951: 100 games 1952: 89 games 1953: 86 games 1954: 63 games 1954 1955: 66 games 1956: 59 games 1957: 84 games 1958: 75 games 1959: 28 games 1960: 65 games 1961: 43 games 1961 1962: 83 games 1963: 57 games 1964: 15 games 1965: 10 games 1966: 9 games 1967: 258 games 1968: 315 games 1968 1969: 70 games 1970: 110 games 1971: 141 games 1972: 101 games 1973: 137 games 1974: 197 games 1975: 300 games 1975 1976: 310 games 1977: 290 games 1978: 424 games 1979: 488 games 1980: 735 games 1981: 767 games 1982: 479 games 1982 1983: 524 games 1984: 445 games 1985: 387 games 1986: 243 games 1987: 229 games 1988: 180 games 1989: 177 games 1989 1990: 81 games 1991: 205 games 1992: 138 games 1993: 230 games 1994: 88 games 1995: 157 games 1996: 260 games 1996 1997: 413 games 1998: 522 games 1999: 615 games 2000: 279 games 2001: 358 games 2002: 349 games 2003: 638 games 2003 2004: 490 games 2005: 542 games 2006: 538 games 2007: 559 games 2008: 635 games 2009: 481 games 2010: 728 games 2010 2011: 790 games 2012: 875 games 2013: 826 games 2014: 749 games 2015: 808 games 2016: 599 games 2017: 612 games 2017 2018: 616 games 2019: 618 games 2020: 309 games 2021: 597 games 2022: 728 games 2023: 834 games 2024: 934 games 2024 2025: 941 games 2026: 724 games
Games on record by year. One column a year, from the first game on record to the current season. A year inside the range with nothing on record keeps its slot and draws nothing. Select a column for that year; the dates page carries every count.

On this day · September 10

1910 · Calgary Hillhurst 1 - 1 Hamilton Independent Labour Party CC

2022 · Atlanta United 4 - 2 Toronto FC MLS · 42,670 attending

1951 · Greg Ion was born

all →

Competitions

American League of Professional Football, 1894

Six baseball owners' six-week experiment — the first professional soccer league in America.

American Soccer League, 1921–1933

The first professional golden age, built on mill-town teams; the Depression ended it.

North American Soccer League, 1968–1984

Pelé, the Cosmos, and more ambition than the gate receipts could carry.

Major League Soccer, 1996–

The top flight since 1996, founded as the price of hosting the 1994 World Cup.

National Women's Soccer League, 2013–

The third attempt at a women's national league, and the one that lasted.

US Open Cup, 1914–

Open to every team in the country since 1914, as the National Challenge Cup.

all competitions →

Teams

USMNT — US Men's National Team

Every international on record, from Newark in 1885 to today.

Bethlehem Steel, 1907–1930

The steel company's team, American soccer's first dynasty.

Hakoah All-Stars, 1928–1933

Built from Hakoah Vienna's touring stars who stayed; 1929 Open Cup champions.

New York Cosmos, 1971–1984

Pelé and Beckenbauer at Giants Stadium; the NASL's rise and fall in one team.

LA Galaxy, 1996–

The MLS flagship: Donovan, Beckham, Ibrahimović, and more MLS Cups than anyone.

Portland Thorns, 2013–

The NWSL's standard-bearer — no city turns out for women's soccer like Portland.

Players

Archie Stark

Bethlehem Steel's goal machine — 70 in the 1924–25 ASL season alone.

Billy Gonsalves

The Babe Ruth of American soccer, a fixture in 1930s Open Cup finals.

Pelé

Three seasons with the Cosmos, and suddenly America cared about soccer.

Mia Hamm

The face of the '99 World Cup winners, and the game's biggest star of her era.

Landon Donovan

Six MLS Cups and, for a decade, the national team's all-time scorer.

David Beckham

The designated player rule was written to bring him to the Galaxy.

Et cetera

MLS Inaugural Draft, 1996

Ten brand-new teams stocking their rosters from scratch.

Starlight Park

An amusement park in the Bronx with 400 games on record, 1927–1946.

Fall River, MA

The mill city that was the capital of American soccer between the wars.

US Soccer Hall of Fame

138 inductees on record, with games, goals, and birthplaces where we have them.

1967

Two rival leagues in one season; the survivors merged into the NASL.

Spalding Soccer Guide, 1915–16

89 games sourced to a single annual — the richest of the Spalding guides here.