Category: North American Soccer League

Kansas City Spurs Soccer

Kansas City Spurs

The Kansas City Spurs soccer team enjoyed a three-year run and a few moments of greatness during the early days of the North American Soccer League (NASL). Semi-finalists in 1968, the Spurs won the NASL championship the following year in 1969. The Spurs were also the top attendance draw in the NASL in 1968. By 1970, however, the Spurs had surrendered Municipal Stadium to the newly arrived Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball and played their final season in a high school football stadium.

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St. Louis Stars NASL

St. Louis Stars

The St. Louis Stars were the first top flight professional soccer team to make their home in the Gateway City. Relatively speaking, the Stars were a beacon of stability in the turbulent American pro soccer scene of the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Of the 22 American pro clubs that began play during the country’s 1967 pro soccer boom, only the Dallas Tornado (1967-1981) outlived the Stars.

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Johan Cruyff Washington Diplomats NASL

Washington Diplomats (1974-1981)

Of Washington D.C.’s multitude of professional and semi-pro soccer clubs, the original Diplomats of the North American Soccer League were by far the longest-lasting and most popular until the arrival of Major League Soccer and D.C. United in 1996. The Dips played from 1974 to 1981, spending most of those years at RFK Stadium. At the peak of their powers in 1980, the club shelled out a $1 million transfer fee to acquired Dutch superstar Johan Cruyff. But the Dips’ high powered corporate ownership group quickly soured on their investment and the club was out of business by late 1981. The Diplomats name and logo was later revived by a completely separate and much lower-budgeted American Soccer League club from 1987 to 1990.

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Toronto Falcons Soccer

Toronto Falcons

The Toronto Falcons played two seasons of pro soccer at Varsity Stadium during the late 1960’s. The roots of the team traced back to the Toronto Italia-Falcons of the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League. Italia-Falcons owner Joe Peters backed the promotion of the team into the ambitious National Professional Soccer League in 1967. The NPSL was one of two start-up North American pro leagues that launched that year. The NPSL’s rival, the United Soccer Association also featured a Toronto entry – Toronto City, owned by future Toronto Maple Leafs owner Steve Stavro.

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