Foreign Clubs Rebranded for a Domestic League: The One-Season Experiment of the United Soccer Association | OneFootball

In 1967, two rival soccer leagues, the United Soccer Association (USA) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), were racing to bring professional soccer to the United States. With virtually no American players to field, the USA pulled a bold stunt: importing entire teams from Europe and South America to represent U.S. cities for a single summer.

Soccer struggling to find a foothold in the United States goes back decades. In the 1960s, the sport faced general public disinterest, fragmented leadership, and rival parties that often competed instead of cooperating. Until the advent of Major League Soccer (and, for a short period, the original NASL), soccer repeatedly tried to take root and failed in the United States.

In 1960s America, soccer was a niche activity, mostly thriving in immigrant neighborhoods and weekend park leagues. Matches drew small crowds of families who had carried the sport from Europe or Latin America, while the broader sporting public barely noticed. Newspapers treated soccer as a curiosity, a foreign pastime, and when the game did reach national attention — like it did during the 1967 experiment of importing entire foreign clubs into a domestic league — it felt more like a novelty than a serious professional venture.

In this environment, a group of investors that included future MLS pioneer Lamar Hunt, sports mogul Jack Kent Cooke, and Steve Stavro launched a plan to create a professional soccer league in North America, initially called the North American Soccer League. The effort gained the support of FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation, but rival investors created the National Professional Soccer League, threatening to divide attention and resources. To avoid confusion, Cooke’s league was rebranded as the United Soccer Association.

Despite being largely unnoticed by the public, the leagues represented a bold vision: a country with two professional soccer leagues and almost no local fan bases. The NPSL quickly gained an edge by securing a CBS television deal, forcing the USA to fast-track its own launch. Initially scheduled to debut in 1968, the USA moved up its inaugural season by one year match the NPSL, which was ready to go in 1967.

With no domestic players, coaches, or clubs, the USA imported 12 teams from around the world to fill the rosters, serving as a temporary stop-gap for clubs to build their own squads for the following season. The result was a bold and truly international endeavor.

A New League That Was Anything but American

The USA’s first (and only) season featured 12 clubs across two conferences, all of which were essentially re-branded clubs brought over from Europe and South America.

In the Eastern Division, there was the Boston Rovers (Shamrock Rovers, Ireland), Chicago Mustangs (Cagliari, Italy), Cleveland Stokers (Stoke City, England), Detroit Cougars (Glentoran, Northern Ireland), New York Skyliners (Cerro, Uruguay), and Toronto City (Hibernian, Scotland).

Out West, there was the Houston Stars (Bangu, Brazil), Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England), San Francisco Golden Gate Gales (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands), Vancouver Royal Canadians (Sunderland, England), Washington Whips (Aberdeen, Scotland), and Dallas Tornado (Dundee United, Scotland).

These imported teams were “on loan” for one summer, playing a season from May to July 1967. Some of the USA’s most notable stars — Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Roberto Boninsegna, Fidélis, George Eastham, and Paulo Borges — competed in the league, lending credibility to what might otherwise have been dismissed as a quirky American experiment.

From Montevideo to NYC

Few would associate New York City with Club Atlético Cerro, yet for the summer of 1967, this modest Uruguayan club was tasked with representing the Big Apple. Cerro hailed from a blue-collar Montevideo neighborhood, known for hard work and resilience. The club’s identity reflected that community spirit oftentimes identified as a tough area in Montevideo, where working class people are met with low paying jobs, difficult surroundings, and harsh realities.

Despite a modest history — Cerro never won a Uruguayan title and only participated in the Copa Libertadores three times — the club’s stint in the USA remains a cherished memory for its fans. Taking the name New York Skyliners, the team was owned by the Madison Square Garden Corporation and played home matches at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

A Modest Team, Memorable Wins

For a small Uruguayan club, the Skyliners had surprisingly competitive results. Their opening game ended in a 1-1 draw with Toronto (Hibernian), followed by a 0-0 draw with Boston (Shamrock Rovers). The standout moment came with a 2-1 victory over Cleveland (Stoke City) who rostered 1966 World Cup winner Gordon Banks. According to legend, Cerro’s Ribeiro dribbled past most of the Stoke lineup to score one of the goals. Fans who came to see Banks applauded the Uruguayan team’s upset.

Cerro’s summer ended with two wins, four losses, and six draws, with Ribeiro finishing as the top scorer with five goals. That victory over Stoke remains a celebrated highlight in the club’s 102-year history.

The Fate of the USA and NPSL

The USA’s brief season concluded after 12 games. The Los Angeles Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers) won the championship, defeating the Washington Whips (Aberdeen) 6-5 in a thrilling final at the LA Coliseum.

Meanwhile, the NPSL, often called a “renegade” league because it lacked FIFA and USSF sanctioning, also completed its single 1967 season with 10 teams. Notable players included future 1978 World Cup winner (as a manager) César Luis Menotti, who played for the New York Generals, and former Real Madrid players Juan Santisteban and Yanko Daucik, who featured for the Baltimore Bays and Toronto Falcons, respectively. Future NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam and Kansas City Wizards coach Ron Newman also played in the league. The Oakland Clippers won the NPSL Cup and the Commissioner’s Cup, completing a rare double.

By 1968, the USA and NPSL shared the same fate as the largely failing leagues merged to form the North American Soccer League (NASL), which lasted until 1984. The New York Cosmos emerged as the league’s most successful club, capturing five championships and creating a cult status which recently saw the club revive for a third time.

Soccer in the United States remains in a unique position. While top leagues, tournaments, and the FIFA World Cup attract attention, the sport is still often secondary in mainstream conversation. MLS, now over 30 years old, operates with modern stadiums, franchised teams, and solid attendance, while the United Soccer League nurtures grassroots and local fanbases, though it is far from “major league” prominence.

Throughout history, American soccer has gone through countless experiments — some ambitious, some outright zany. The United Soccer Association’s one-summer adventure stands out as perhaps the strangest and most audacious attempt to make soccer work in the United States, and it endures as a fascinating footnote in the sport’s history.