North American Soccer League

This article is about the original national Division I soccer league that was active from 1968 to 1985. For the league founded in 2009, see North American Soccer League (2011–2017).

North American Soccer League
NASL logo (1975–1984)[1]
FoundedDecember 7, 1967; 56 years ago (1967-12-07)[2]
FoldedMarch 28, 1985; 39 years ago (1985-03-28)
CountryUnited States
Other club(s) fromCanada
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams24
Level on pyramid1
Promotion toNone
Relegation toNone
Last championsChicago Sting
(1984)
Most championshipsNew York Cosmos (5 titles)

The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the United States. The league final was called the Soccer Bowl from 1975 to 1983 and the Soccer Bowl Series in its final year, 1984. The league was headed by Commissioner Phil Woosnam from 1969 to 1983. The NASL laid the foundations for soccer in the United States that helped lead to the country hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup and setting up Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.[3]

The United States did not have a truly national top-flight league until the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association (USA) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), which had operated separately for one season in 1967, merged in December 1967 to form the NASL. The NASL considered the two pre-merge forerunner leagues as part of its history.

The league's popularity peaked in the late 1970s. The league averaged over 13,000 fans per game in each season from 1977 to 1983, and the league's matches were broadcast on network television from 1975 to 1980.[4] The league's most prominent team was the New York Cosmos. During the mid-to-late 1970s, the Cosmos signed a number of the world's best players —Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto— and the Cosmos averaged over 28,000 fans per game for each season from 1977 to 1982 while having three seasons of the average attendance topping 40,000 spectators per game. Other internationally well-known players in the league included Giorgio Chinaglia, Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Gerd Müller, Bobby Moore, Eusébio, and George Best. However, over-expansion, the economic recession of the early 1980s, and disputes with the players union ultimately led to the collapse of the NASL following the 1984 season. Also, FIFA's decision to award the hosting of the 1986 FIFA World Cup to Mexico after Colombia withdrew, rather than the U.S., is considered a factor in the NASL's demise. Former New York Cosmos president Clive Toye called the league "a magnificent success that eventually failed as a single entity. But, what it left behind is a knowledge of the game that didn't even existed (sic) in this country before and enthusiasm for the game which never existed before."[5]

The league additionally sanctioned indoor soccer in various tournament forms in 1971, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1983, and in a season format in 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82 and 1983–84.

  1. ^ SportsLogos.net
  2. ^ "Another soccer war?". Steve Holroyd. Society for American Soccer History (SASH). September 4, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  3. ^ Lewis, Michael (October 20, 2018). "How the birth and death of the NASL changed soccer in America forever". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "kenn.com". www.kenn.com. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  5. ^ Lewis, Michael (October 20, 2018). "How the birth and death of the NASL changed soccer in America forever". The Guardian.