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

games
23,084
players
36,757
teams
4,738
competitions
225
0 200 400 600 800 1894: 22 games 1894 1895: 28 games 1896: 2 games 1897: 1 games 1900 1906: 3 games 1906 1907: 33 games 1912 1916: 14 games 1917: 14 games 1918: 18 games 1918 1919: 30 games 1920: 25 games 1921: 61 games 1922: 83 games 1923: 99 games 1924: 203 games 1924 1925: 261 games 1926: 242 games 1927: 248 games 1928: 338 games 1929: 362 games 1930: 232 games 1930 1931: 145 games 1932: 45 games 1933: 8 games 1934: 18 games 1935: 2 games 1936 1937: 3 games 1942 1946: 9 games 1947: 5 games 1948: 6 games 1948 1949: 5 games 1950: 22 games 1952: 1 games 1953: 1 games 1954: 30 games 1954 1955: 1 games 1957: 4 games 1958: 34 games 1959: 1 games 1960: 32 games 1960 1961: 55 games 1962: 60 games 1963: 44 games 1964: 26 games 1965: 32 games 1966: 32 games 1966 1967: 234 games 1968: 293 games 1969: 42 games 1970: 119 games 1971: 121 games 1972: 63 games 1972 1973: 121 games 1974: 172 games 1975: 259 games 1976: 277 games 1977: 278 games 1978: 427 games 1978 1979: 437 games 1980: 712 games 1981: 755 games 1982: 509 games 1983: 494 games 1984: 430 games 1984 1985: 383 games 1986: 256 games 1987: 182 games 1988: 28 games 1989: 24 games 1990: 72 games 1990 1991: 15 games 1992: 68 games 1993: 41 games 1994: 75 games 1995: 17 games 1996: 261 games 1996 1997: 212 games 1998: 279 games 1999: 219 games 2000: 280 games 2001: 249 games 2002: 236 games 2002 2003: 199 games 2004: 261 games 2005: 338 games 2006: 371 games 2007: 329 games 2008: 505 games 2008 2009: 415 games 2010: 674 games 2011: 794 games 2012: 798 games 2013: 718 games 2014: 633 games 2014 2015: 607 games 2016: 398 games 2017: 398 games 2018: 409 games 2019: 428 games 2020: 309 games 2020 2021: 472 games 2022: 489 games 2023: 521 games 2024: 522 games 2025: 540 games 2026: 351 games 2026
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 11

1926 · Boston Wonder Workers 0 - 4 Providence Clamdiggers ASL1

2012 · Costa Rica 0 - 1 Mexico WCq · 44,007 attending

1945 · Franz Beckenbauer 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.