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

games
103,361
players
69,469
teams
7,306
competitions
354
Games on record by year
1860s 1866 1867 1868 1869
1870s 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
  • 1 to 9
  • 10 to 99
  • 100 to 999
  • 1,000 to 2,999
  • 3,000 and up
A cell a year, from the first game on record to the current season, shaded by how many games that year has. A grey year inside the range has nothing on record. Select a year for its games; the dates page carries every count.

On this day · September 15

1888 · Canada 3 - 0 Heart of Midlothian F

1977 · El Salvador 1 - 2 United States IF · 58,000 attending

1968 · Marco Rizi 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.