The first installment of a ten-part series on the origins of soccer in Philadelphia.
Author: Ed Farnsworth
Archive of USWNT results added to SASH website
A complete listing of USWNT games is now available for reference on the SASH site.
The AAPF and the ALPF: The beginnings of professional league soccer in the United States
A look at the first professional soccer leagues in the US, the American Association of Professional Football and American League of Professional Football, with new information on the lesser known AAPF.
All-Scots in Bethlehem and Philadelphia, 1921
The 1921 All-Scots tour was the first by an international team backed by US Soccer.
1916: Bethlehem Steel FC travels to St. Louis
Over the 1916 Christmas holiday, Bethlehem Steel FC, holders of the National Challenge Cup and the American Cup, traveled to St. Louis for two games to decide the unofficial title of champion of the United States.
Philadelphia and the other first professional soccer league in the U.S.
Formed in reaction to the National League baseball-backed American League of Professional Football, the American Association of Professional Football appears to have played its first games before, and outlived, the ALPF.
1934: USA vs. Mexico and the “little truck”
Aldo “Buff” Donelli’s quartet of goals in the one-off playoff game against Mexico powered the US to a berth in the 1934 World Cup. It would 46 years before the US would defeat Mexico again.
Philadelphia German Americans win the 1936 US Open Cup
On May 3, 1936, Philadelphia German Americans became the first amateur team, and the first team from the city of Philadelphia, to win the US Open Cup.
1913: Innisfails of St. Louis comes East
Our series on inter-city games involving Philadelphia area teams and St. Louis teams in the 1910s continues. When, a year after winning the American Cup, Tacony FC traveled to St. Louis in 1911, they came back from two goals down to draw 4–4 with St. Louis champion St. Leos in what newspaper reports […]
The “champions of the Middle West” come to Philly, 1912
Tacony FC’s trip to St. Louis in December of 1911 to decide the “championship of America” had ended in disappointment. They would have a chance for revenge in March of 1912 when the St. Leos team of St. Louis embarked on a tour against leading East Coast teams.
1911’s “soccer championship of America”: Philadelphia’s Tacony FC in St. Louis
Part One of a series looking at inter-city games involving Philadelphia area teams and St. Louis teams in the 1910s. Soccer in the United States at the start of the 1910s was undergoing a rise in organization and popularity. That organization was largely locally based and varied in both scope […]
2-3-5 in the 215: Tactics in the early days of Philadelphia soccer
One formation ruled the game of soccer in Philadelphia for 60 years, the 2-3-5.
Connie Mack’s soccer team
Connie Mack is a baseball legend. In Philadelphia in 1901, he also had a soccer team.
Len Oliver Q&A: Looking ahead
Our series of Q&A’s with Philadelphia-born National Soccer Hall of Famer Len Oliver concludes.
Len Oliver Q&A: Playing in the pros in 1950s Philadelphia and beyond
Our series of conversations with Philadelphia-born National Soccer Hall of Famer Len Oliver continues.
Len Oliver Q&A: The impact of club soccer on Philly’s high school & college game
Our series of Q&As with Philadelphia-born National Soccer Hall of Famer Len Oliver continues.
Dick, Kerr Ladies come to Philadelphia, 1922
Women’s soccer has come a long way in the US. In 1922, it came all the way from England to Philadelphia.
Abolish the penalty kick!
A little more than one hundred years ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer led a campaign to abolish the penalty kick.