The American Soccer History Archives are a comprehensive repository of information, statistics and essays relating to all aspects of the history of soccer in the United States from the 1860’s to the present. The purpose of this archive is two-fold: First, it provides a central repository of historical and statistical information for researchers, journalists, and soccer fans.
Secondly, with the enormous growth of interest and participation in American soccer, it is important to remind the world that the USA is not a newcomer to the sport, but in fact has a rich heritage of soccer that is among the oldest in the world. This archive is here to allow people to connect with soccer’s past even as we look to its future, and to fill in many of the gaps in the existing body of historical knowledge.
The archive is a continuous work in progress with new material being added on a regular basis. Currently, the archive, if printed in its entirely would run to over 1,200 pages (…and feel free to download and print as much of it as you like!) The archive is intended to be a source of raw material and data available to researchers and journalists to use while composing articles essays and writing books; please feel free to use the information as needed.
The archive includes an extensive series of “annuals”, each giving a comprehensive summary of an individual year in US soccer, including league summaries and stats for all pro leagues, cup competitions, international tours, national team results and overview, award winners, college tournaments, amateur league summaries and much more. Each yearly summary runs from 7 to 32 pages in length.
Also included are complete league tables for all us Pro and semi-pro soccer leagues (over 30) from 1894-2010, champion lists, the “Grand List” of all pro soccer teams from 1894-2010, historical overviews of major soccer regions (New England, St. Louis, Philadelphia, etc.), and over 20 feature essays on various subjects including grand overviews of American soccer history and women’s soccer history, a bibliography of books covering US soccer history, a register of major NASL players, complete all-time results of the Men’s and women’s national teams. Finally there is an extensive list of links to other soccer history related web pages.
Recent additions include the Year in Soccer for 2008, 2009 and 2010, a major redesign of the front page, and updates to the league tables, grand list, champions lists, and the completion of the Regional Histories series with the addition of histories of New York/Northern NJ, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and san Francisco, and a series of articles by Melvin Smith on early college and amateur teams. Next anticipated project: All-time MISL stats leaders. Please contact David Litterer at spectrum@sover.net if you have any contributions to offer.
The archive is a collaborative effort, with many articles being written by a number of different authors. This material may be copied and used freely, as long as proper credit is given to the authors.