Decades ago, when England and Scotland felt far more certain of their status as masters of the sport than they do today, the English FA and the Scottish FA occasionally sent non-representative touring teams abroad under their banners to entertain the fans.
SASH recently released four clips of unidentified teams and grounds in Philadelphia as part of its Historical Footage campaign. Dan Creel describes how he identified the teams, grounds, and matches.
The footage includes the first international played by the US Men’s National Team in the US, the first ever footage in the world of a soccer match shot with sound, the 1924 US Open Cup final, and American Soccer League and Eastern Soccer League contests.
The footage, identified in the archives of Cineteca di Bologna, shows San Francisco’s Italia Virtus club playing a team from a visiting Italian navy ship and is from a 1921 film directed by legendary American filmmaker Frank Capra.
The “fixture in the world of American soccer history for decades” was honored by the NSHOF. Allaway has stepped down after serving for 25 years as the “guardian of our Hall of Fame eligibility process.”
Kevin Tallec Marston and Mike Cronin will explain how the surprising story of a handful of old Boston boys has become a foundational origin point for soccer in the USA.
The United States team’s bronze-medal performance at the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago stands out as an unexpected surprise.
At the conclusion of the United States team’s trip to the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the manager of the team, Wilfred Cummings, wrote a report to the USFA on the trip.
The main cause of the NASL’s demise was its over-expansion in 1978, but pinpointing when the decline began is difficult.
Rachel Allison, Jen Cooper, and Tom McCabe will talk about the first US Women’s National Team, otherwise known as the 1985ers.
A third batch of odd facts in American soccer history
St. Louis soccer historian David Lange will be joined by Ernesto Milani to discuss the creation of a mural in Cuggiono, Italy honoring the participation of players from the St. Louis neighborhood The Hill on the US team at the 1950 World Cup.
The founding of the original American Soccer League more than 100 years ago is one of the landmark events in American soccer history, even though the league lasted only 10 years.
Historical inaccuracies are common in movies. Those inaccuracies are piled pretty deep in in the USMNT’s lead-up to the 1950 World Cup in The Game of Their Lives/The Miracle Match.
Brown earned the reputation of a mediator between disputing factions.
With the 2026 World Cup fast approaching, more eyes will be looking at soccer in the US than ever before. With your support, those eyes will also see the rich visual history of American soccer.
Some particularly memorable NASL games in which the Cosmos didn’t play.
The U.S. men’s national team has scored a few famous upsets against major teams over the years, and also a few significant victories that are not as well remembered.
The footage features German American League play at legendary New York Metro Area soccer venues Metropolitan Oval, Eintracht Oval, and Zerega Oval.
The 1927 film captures an uneventful match between unremarkable ASL teams at the end of a mediocre half-season. Yet, it is a milestone in the history of soccer.
Eleven clips of international friendlies and indoor matches played in New York City between 1941 and 1960 are being released.
The U.S. Soccer Federation doesn’t recognize the 1885 and 1886 games against Canada as having been full internationals, and with good reason.
When the U.S. Soccer Federation used clubs to take the field in place of the U.S. men’s national team.
The 1924 Olympic Games in Paris were a landmark event for the U.S. national soccer team.
Everyone knows about Paul Caligiuri’s gamewinner against Trinidad and Tobago in 1989. So what else did the U.S. men’s national team do that year?
About a man who can be called legendary, if it is possible for a person to be legendary when their legend is known only to a small and shrinking group of people.
How the league lost sight of the long-term goal of steady growth and was seduced by the short-term income offered by expansion fees.
In 1930, a Fall River team built around the Fall River Marksmen played some of the best teams of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria in Europe.
A few months after the 1971 NASL season, the New York Cosmos announced that they would be moving to Hofstra Stadium on Long Island for the 1972 season.
The USMNT has been involved in eligibility controversies over the years. Here are some of the issues.
In 1916 in the midst of the First World War, the US played its first official internationals in Sweden and Norway.
The night when the U.S. women announced to the world that this nation that was a traditional doormat in men’s soccer was going to be a power in the women’s game.
Whether it’s a club, a college, a supporter’s group or a professional team, history is an essential element for building strong, long-term soccer communities. David Kilpatrick and Chuck Carlson lead the discussion.
The Uruguayan team that toured the United States in 1927 wasn’t really the world champion it was touted as it may have been the greatest team ever to make an American tour.
The New York Cosmos had an up-and-down record over the years in friendlies against European and South American teams. Two of those home friendlies that do stand out impressively.
Robert Gansler reviews DSV Germania’s 1930 tour of Germany, which included players from Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Newark, New York City, and Philadelphia.
The Oral History Workshop will be an overview of the basics of conducting oral histories and more.
It was no coincidence that the Bethlehem Steel soccer team, one of the greatest in American soccer history, was at its peak at the same time that World War I was raging in Europe.
Smoke bombs thrown onto the field? Ho-hum. Hooligans in the streets? Yawn. There are American soccer players who have seen far worse, like tear gas in the stadium.
Some odd facts, footnotes in American soccer history.
A very important factor in reviving American interest in soccer at the beginning of the 20th century was the visits of an English amateur all-star team called the Pilgrims, who made American tours in 1905 and 1909.
Gabe Logan will discuss the origins of the National Amateur Cup tournament and its connection to the 1924 US Olympic soccer team.
Fricker’s legacy remains not just as the man who brought the World Cup to the United States for the first time, but as an important bridge between eras in American soccer.
Michael Lewis recounts the story of the first US Olympic soccer team.
American soccer has had varied experience with playoffs over the years, some good, some bad.
Roger Allaway pays tribute to Colin Jose, the giant of North American soccer history who has passed away at the age of 88.
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season concludes with a review of the season’s play.
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season continues as the league organizes for its first season in an extended period of economic depression, labor unrest, and reduced immigration.
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season begins with a look at associations and leagues in the New York Metropolitan Area that preceded the league’s formation in 1895.
The events of 1991 included some important steps in the right direction for the US national team.
Brian D. Bunk, Brian Quarstad, and Chris Bolsmann will be the presenters.
American soccer’s contribution to the American war effort of 1941-45 is not as well known as that of baseball or football, but it definitely did exist.
Roger Allaway looks at some historic soccer grounds, some still here, others long gone.
So who brought the United States back? Paul Krumpe and Jim Gabarra did.
Joe Barriskill was a complicated figure in American soccer of decades ago, playing an important part in shepherding American soccer through some dark times.
A high-water mark for American success in international soccer was the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay.
Tom McCabe will discuss the impact of a little known event on the life of one of the leading figures of early 20th Century American soccer.
Fall River Rovers played in a jersey that displayed a shirt sponsor in 1887.
Bethlehem Steel vs. Fall River was the first great intersectional rivalry in American soccer, and more than 100 years after its last game, it may still be the greatest.
The decline and fall of the original NASL Cosmos was not a heroic story. It really began in 1982, but its last stages, in 1984 and 1985, were the particularly grim ones.
