National Professional Soccer League (1967)
Tombstone
Born: 1967 – NPSL founding franchise
Moved: January 1968 (Kansas City Spurs)
First Game: April 16, 1967 (W 2-1 vs. St. Louis Stars)
Last Game: August 25, 1967 (L 2-1 @ St. Louis Stars)
NPSL Championships: None
Stadium
Soldier Field (100,000)
Opened: 1924
Marketing
Team Colors: Red & White with Blue trim
Ownership
Owner: William Cutler & Al Kaczmarek
FWIL FAVORITE
Chicago Spurs Logo T-Shirt
Before the Fire, before the Sting, there was the 1967 clash between two newly formed clubs seeking to establish top flight soccer in the Windy City. Soldier Field had the Spurs. Comiskey Park offered the Mustangs.
Neither club would see 1969, but no account of Chicago pro soccer is complete without them.
We’ve seen a couple Spurs throwbacks out there, but this vintage wash Logo Tee from Streaker Sports is our favorite.
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Background
The Chicago Spurs were one of ten founding franchises in the outlaw (non-FIFA sanctioned) National Professional Soccer League launched in 1967. The club finished 10-11-11 in their lone season of competition and failed to make the playoffs. The team was also a flop at the box office, attracting fewer than 3,000 fans per match to 100,000-seat Soldier Field.
The Spurs’ top scorer was 24-year old German immigrant Willy Roy, a product of Chicago’s local semi-pro leagues. Roy’s 17 goals and 5 assists placed him second on the NPSL’s scoring table and earned him the league’s Rookie-of-the-Year award and a 1st Team NPSL All-Star selection.
Roy would go on to manage the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League (and later the indoor MISL) from 1977 to 1986. Under Roy’s direction, the Sting won the NASL’s Soccer Bowl championship game in 1981 and 1984.
Merger & Move
Following the 1967 season, the NPSL merged with the rival United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League. The USA had a Windy City franchise as well, the Chicago Mustangs. The Spurs moved to Kansas City in January 1968 while the Mustangs took the Chicago slot in the NASL.
The Spurs played three more seasons in Kansas City and won the NASL title in 1969. The club closed down after the 1970 season.
Chicago Spurs 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!
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One Response
I found a original Chicago spurs 1967 ticket audit stub $3.50 mid field soldier field near perfect condition I have visited many different ticket collector sites and none of these original tickets have been known to have survive I’m told this is a very rare ticket
I found a lot of information about the history of this soccer team but finding another ticket stub like it impossible