North American Soccer League (1974-1981)
Tombstone
Born: December 11, 1973 – NASL expansion franchise1NO BYLINE. “Los Angeles nets pro soccer team”. The News-Pilot (San Pedro, CA). December 12, 1973
Folded: December 9, 19812ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Los Angeles Aztecs Fold”. The Santa Maria Times (Santa Maria, CA). December 10, 1981
First Game: May 5, 1974 (W 2-1 vs. Seattle Sounders)
Last Game: August 30, 1981 (L 2-1 vs. Montreal Manic)
NASL Champions: 1974
Stadia
Outdoor Soccer:
1974: East Los Angeles College Stadium (22,500)31979 Los Angeles Aztecs Media Guide
1975-1976: El Camino Junior College (12,200)41979 Los Angeles Aztecs Media Guide
1976-1977: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (92,604)51979 Los Angeles Aztecs Media Guide
1978-1980: The Rose Bowl (104,699)61979 Los Angeles Aztecs Media Guide
1981: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Indoor Soccer:
1979-80: The Forum
Opened: 1967
1980-81: Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,369)
Opened: 1959
Demolished: 2016
Marketing
Team Colors:
- 1977: Tangerine & White71977 North American Soccer League Guide
- 1978: Orange, White & Black81978 North American Soccer League Guide
- 1979: Orange, White & Blue91979 Los Angeles Aztecs Media Guide
Television:
- 1978 – 1979:KTTV (Channel 11)
Television Broadcasters:
- 1978 – 1979:Chick Hearn (play-by-play) & Norm Jackson (color)
Ownership
Owners:
- 1974: Dr. Jack Gregory
- 1975-1977: John Chaffetz, Elton John, et al.
- 1977-1980: Alan Rothenberg, Larry Friend & Donald Reynolds
- 1980-1981: Televisa Corp. (Daniel Villanueva)
Attendance
Outdoor attendance at various venues, 1974-1981:
Indoor attendance for the Aztecs’ two-season experiment with indoor soccer. The 1979-80 figures are for six “home” matches, two of which were actually held in Vancouver, Canada.
Source: Kenn.com Attendance Project
Trophy Case
NASL Most Valuable Player
- 1979: Johan Cruyff
NASL Rookie of the Year
- 1974: Douglas MacMillan
- 1979: Larry Hulcer
Our Favorite Stuff
L.A. AzTECS NASL
Logo T-Shirt
This is the classic-era Aztecs crest from the North American Soccer League, circa 1974-1980. The years of George Best and Steve David and Johan Cruyff. Blue & Orange with what what is basically the Battlestar Galactica font for the lettering.
This Aztecs design is also available as a Women’s Tank Top or a Hooded Sweatshirt from our friends at Old School Shirts!
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Background
The Aztecs were L.A.’s intermittently glam soccer club of the 1970’s. The club won the North American Soccer League championship in their expansion season of 1974. At various times, the Aztecs had ties to everyone from George Best to Elton John to the Dutch midfield genius Johan Cruyff. But the club also bounced from one ill-fitting stadium to another every year or two and suffered from revolving door ownership. Each new regime swiftly jettisoned the favored European superstar of its predecessor.
1976: Arrival of George Best
Best arrived first and was still good enough to dominate in the American league. He was arguably the biggest name signed by the NASL other than the Brazilian superstar Pele, who came to the league a year earlier with the New York Cosmos in 1975. The two superstars faced off in L.A. on April 11, 1976 when Pele’s Cosmos defeated Best’s Aztecs 1-0 before 29,232 fans at the Coliseum.
Like Pele, Best came to the NASL after a brief retirement and joined a team in a major media market. Unlike Pele, Best’s presence in Los Angeles didn’t spark a wave of soccer mania. While Pele’s Cosmos averaged 34,000 fans per game at Giants Stadium in 1977 (with some crowds in excess of 70,000), the Aztecs failed to crack 10,000 in average attendance during either of Best’s full seasons with the team in 1976 and 1977.
In 1976, Best scored 15 goals in 23 matches and finished tied for sixth in the NASL in scoring. In 1977, Best handed off the bulk of the finishing duties to Trinidadian striker Steve David. David led the NASL with 26 goals, many courtesy of Best, who tied a league record with 18 assists.
Best eventually wore out his welcome in L.A. during his third season in 1978, thanks to his alcoholism and the related lifestyle issues that so frustrated his managers at his previous stops. He was suspended without pay early in the 1978 season for missing practices and player poorly when he did show up. The Aztecs dealt their mercurial 32-year old star to the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers in June 1978.
1979: One Season with Johan Cruyff
The Aztecs went to the well again in 1979, importing the Dutch superstar Johan Cruyff along with his famed coach from Ajax and the Dutch National Team, Rinus Michels. Cruyff was an artist on the field and won the NASL’s Most Valuable Player award in 1979.
Sale To Televisa & Demise
But the team was sold again in the offseason of 1979-80 to the Televisa broadcasting concern in Mexico. The new owners immediately sold Cruyff off to the Washington Diplomats in early 1980. The Aztecs stayed relevant for one final season, reaching the NASL quarterfinals in 1980 on the strength of 28 goals from Brazilian striker Luis Fernando.
In 1981, the Aztecs’ final season, attendance dropped more than 50% from 1980. Televisa folded the club shortly after the season.
Los Angeles Aztecs Shop
Editor's Pick
Rock n' Roll Soccer
The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
by Ian Plenderleith
The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.
The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Our Favorite Stuff
1981 L.A. Aztecs
Logo T-Shirt
This Aztecs logo tee features the team’s 1981 logo that was introduced for what turned out to be its final season in 1981. The traditional club colors of blue & orange were dropped in favor or blue & yellow and the font was updated as well.
This design is available from American Retro Apparel in several colors and in sizes small through XXXL today!
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Los Angeles Aztecs Video
George Best scores against the Dallas Tornado, 1977.
Aztecs booster and (briefly) part-owner Elton John talks up the Aztecs & George Best in this 1977 interview…
In Memoriam
Claudio Coutinho (’81), the last Head Coach of the club, drowned in a scuba diving accident on November 27, 1981. Coutinho was 42. The Aztecs went out of business two weeks later.
Former Dutch National Team manager and Aztecs coach Rinus Michels (’79-’80) passed away March 3, 2005 at age 77.
George Best (Aztecs ’76-’78) died on November 25, 2005 at age 59 from complications of hard living. New York Times obituary.
Midfielder Wolfgang Sunholz (Aztecs ’78) passed away at the age of 73 on December 29th, 2019. Front Row Soccer remembrance.
Downloads
5-22-1979 Aztecs Sign Johan Cruyff Press Release
5-22-1979 Aztecs Sign Johan Cruyff Press Release
6-28-1978 Aztecs @ New York Cosmos Game Notes
9-5-1979 Johan Cruyff Named NASL Most Valuable Player Press Release
1980 Los Angeles Aztecs Postseason Media Guide
6-21-1981 Aztecs @ New York Cosmos Game Notes
Links
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5 Responses
The Aztecs had probably the best name and logo in the NASL…in a league that had some really great logos. I always rooted for them. When the MLS started I had hoped that the LA team would return to the Aztecs name, but the Galaxy is very understandable (more stars then there is in heaven)
1977 Los Angeles Aztecs–someone should revive such a cool name #failurefriday http://t.co/RKf1s5DB
LOSAZT74-81 Archives – Fun While It Lasted at Fun While It Lasted http://t.co/M1SC5vipXr
The interview with Elton John is at the Coliseum, not the Rose Bowl.
If they did use that name, it would be another Redskins/Commanders or Indians/Guardians situation and they would be forced to be LAFC or something. It’s a classic branding….at least I can use it in PES.