RESEARCH STARTER

Immigrants in soccer

Immigrants have played a crucial role in the history and development of soccer in the United States, a sport that is globally recognized as football. Initially brought over by English settlers in the early 17th century, soccer faced stiff competition from American football, which ultimately gained greater popularity. Throughout the late 19th century, the sport found a stronghold in immigrant communities, particularly among Irish, English, Scottish, and Welsh populations, who established soccer clubs and leagues across the country. By the 1920s, professional soccer began to take root with the formation of the American Soccer League, predominantly featuring immigrant players.

Despite challenges, the sport witnessed a resurgence in the late 20th century, bolstered by international stars and youth organizations that helped popularize soccer among a broader audience. The establishment of Major League Soccer in 1996 marked a significant turning point, transitioning soccer from an immigrant pastime to a mainstream sport. Today, soccer thrives in American culture, with a diverse demographic participating in youth leagues. However, immigrants continue to be prominently represented on professional teams, reflecting the lasting connection between soccer and immigrant communities in the U.S. As new waves of immigrants from soccer-loving countries arrive, the sport's appeal continues to grow, making it an integral part of American sports culture.

Full Article

  • ALSO KNOWN AS: Association football

DEFINITION: Ball game, known as “football” to most of the world, that pits eleven-member teams against each other on fields slightly larger than American football fields

SIGNIFICANCE: Although it is the world’s most popular team sport, soccer has historically been considered a “foreign” or “ethnic” sport in the United States because of its identification with European and Latin American immigrants. The game has become one of the most widely played youth sports in American cities, suburbs, and rural areas. It continues to be most strongly supported by immigrant communities.

Since arriving in the US, soccer has been associated with the immigrant experience. It was among the first games English settlers brought to the American colonies. Although the histories of soccer and American football in the US can be traced to identical beginnings, soccer ultimately lost out to its American cousin and was relegated to a game mostly enjoyed by Europeans and other immigrants.

The English colonists who settled in the US brought one of their favorite pastimes—football. Historians agree that a form of the game was played in Virginia as early as 1609. Throughout the nineteenth century, scratch teams of British immigrants and some high school and college teams participated in the sport. By 1860, more than a dozen colleges on the Atlantic seaboard had taken up the sport. After the rules of “association football”—from which the word “soccer” derived—were formalized in Great Britain, Princeton and Rutgers universities played the first official game in the US under these rules on November 6, 1869. At the time, it appeared that association football might become a significant intercollegiate sport. However, a solely American form of football emerged that would soon displace it. This new game, which would become known as American football, evolved out of rugby football, which in turn had evolved from soccer. In contrast to soccer, rugby and American football permitted players to carry the ball with their hands. American football eventually departed from rugby in allowing forward passes, a feature that would characterize the American game during the twentieth century.

Meanwhile, through the last quarter of the nineteenth century, soccer began a slow and painful climb to popularity outside the university and professional framework. Through the 1880s, newly arrived Irish, English, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants helped the game take root in New York, New Jersey, and New England. From there, soccer began moving westward. Soccer associations, mostly made up of immigrants, sprung up in cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis. In 1883, the Pullman Railroad Car Company of Chicago built a soccer field for its immigrant employees—a testament to the sport's popularity in Chicago and an early example of American business paternalism.

While these developments were unfolding in the US, the British planted the seeds of association football throughout Europe, where the game grew rapidly. As a result, the crowds of European immigrants who changed the face of the US during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also carried their newfound adoration of soccer to the New World. Ethnic football clubs and leagues, such as the former German American League and Brooklyn Hispano and the New York Greek American Soccer Club (also known as the New York Greek Americans), were essential in promoting American soccer and socialization among immigrant groups.

Professionalization, “Americanization,” and New Immigrants

By the 1920s, soccer had become popular enough in the US to form its first professional league, the American Soccer League (ASL). Industrial corporations behind the organization of this league imported European stars to entertain newly arrived immigrant workers. Over the years, the pattern of ethnic clubs fielding ASL teams became commonplace among Irish, Scottish, Hispanic, Italian, German, Polish, and Ukrainian immigrants.

As international soccer competitions developed, the US fielded teams comprising predominantly immigrants. The US national team that competed in the first World Cup competition in Uruguay in 1930 consisted mainly of naturalized British and Scottish professional players. That was also the case when the US achieved one of the most significant victories in national team history—a win over world power England during the 1950 World Cup competition. After World War II, new immigrants and returning service members gave soccer a boost throughout the US. As displaced persons arrived from Europe, they formed new soccer clubs, some of which sought admission to the ASL. At that time, it seemed that the American game would forever remain the diversion of immigrants.

Three decades after World War II, things began to change. In 1975, the recently formed North American Soccer League (NASL) imported some of the world’s best players, such as Brazilian superstar Pelé, to play in the US. This effort to popularize and legitimize the sport among broader segments of American society paid off. Interest in the game soared. In 1964, the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) began to foster the sport among suburban children in Southern California. AYSO and other youth soccer organizations grew slowly. However, by 1978, more than 350,000 American children were registered with these organizations, and 5,800 high schools fielded teams. White, middle-class suburbia provided the most fertile ground for this frenzied growth.

The Americanization of soccer appeared to have begun. NASL even began limiting the numbers of foreigners allowed on its teams, and US-born players and coaches began to move up the professional ranks. NASL eventually folded, but during the 1990s, the US men’s national soccer team became a regional powerhouse and a fixture in World Cup competitions. The women’s national team, built almost entirely on home-grown talent, did even better. It won the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and several Olympic gold medals. When the US hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994, the competition set new attendance and revenue records for the event. By the time a new professional soccer league, Major League Soccer (MLS), formed in 1996, soccer had grown from an immigrant game into the team sport with the most participation among children throughout the US.

Despite the growing Americanization of the game, the love affair between soccer and immigrants in the US never abated. Indeed, as most of the new immigrants entering the country during the beginning of the twenty-first century were coming from soccer-crazed countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, immigrant soccer players and fans in the US became more prominent than ever. Their numbers were particularly evident at games played by visiting teams from Latin America, where fans supporting the foreign teams generally outnumbered those supporting the American teams. 

In 2007, at the height of the international superstar’s career, David Beckham chose to move to the US to play for the MLS team, the LA Galaxy—a move that supported the growth of MLS's popularity and soccer's visibility in the US. As a sign that soccer continues to move from being a sport of immigrants to one embedded in American sports culture, the US men’s and women’s soccer teams experienced increasing success in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The women’s team secured World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019 and won Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Although the men’s team was not as successful, the talent the team could amass is a testament to the newer generations of Americans who have accepted soccer as not just an immigrant sport but one vital to American sports as well. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, youth soccer includes many demographics in the US, and soccer has secured mainstream success. Still, immigrants tend to comprise the rosters of MLS teams in larger proportion than American-born players. 


Bibliography

Allaway, Roger. Rangers, Rovers and Spindles: Soccer, Immigration and Textiles in New England and New Jersey. St. Johann Press, 2005.

Carlisle, Jeff. "David Beckham's LA Galaxy Debut: An Oral History on the 10-year Anniversary." ESPN, 20 July 2017, www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37478625/oral-history-10-year-anniversary. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

"The Ethnic Legacy in American Soccer." Soccer History USA, 1996, soccerhistoryusa.org/asha/ethniclegacy.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Goldblatt, David. The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer. Riverhead Books, 2008.

Guerrero, Maurizio. "For Immigrants, Soccer Is Often More Than a Sport." Prism, 2 Aug. 2021, prismreports.org/2021/08/02/for-immigrants-soccer-is-often-more-than-a-sport/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Hollander, Zander, editor. The American Encyclopedia of Soccer. Everest House, 1980.

"How Many Trophies have the USWNT Won?" Goal.com, 24 July 2021, www.goal.com/en-us/news/how-many-trophies-have-the-uswnt-won-record-most-appearances--top-goalscorers/m8guw99wrtt11xpot4kxonw00. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Litterer, David. "Chicago's Soccer History." US Soccer History, 25 May 2010, ussoccerhistory.org/ASHA/ASHA/chicago.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Markovits, Andrei S., and Steven L. Hellerman. Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Princeton UP, 2001.

Wangerin, David. Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America’s Forgotten Game. WSC Books, 2006.

Full Article

  • ALSO KNOWN AS: Association football

DEFINITION: Ball game, known as “football” to most of the world, that pits eleven-member teams against each other on fields slightly larger than American football fields

SIGNIFICANCE: Although it is the world’s most popular team sport, soccer has historically been considered a “foreign” or “ethnic” sport in the United States because of its identification with European and Latin American immigrants. The game has become one of the most widely played youth sports in American cities, suburbs, and rural areas. It continues to be most strongly supported by immigrant communities.

Since arriving in the US, soccer has been associated with the immigrant experience. It was among the first games English settlers brought to the American colonies. Although the histories of soccer and American football in the US can be traced to identical beginnings, soccer ultimately lost out to its American cousin and was relegated to a game mostly enjoyed by Europeans and other immigrants.

The English colonists who settled in the US brought one of their favorite pastimes—football. Historians agree that a form of the game was played in Virginia as early as 1609. Throughout the nineteenth century, scratch teams of British immigrants and some high school and college teams participated in the sport. By 1860, more than a dozen colleges on the Atlantic seaboard had taken up the sport. After the rules of “association football”—from which the word “soccer” derived—were formalized in Great Britain, Princeton and Rutgers universities played the first official game in the US under these rules on November 6, 1869. At the time, it appeared that association football might become a significant intercollegiate sport. However, a solely American form of football emerged that would soon displace it. This new game, which would become known as American football, evolved out of rugby football, which in turn had evolved from soccer. In contrast to soccer, rugby and American football permitted players to carry the ball with their hands. American football eventually departed from rugby in allowing forward passes, a feature that would characterize the American game during the twentieth century.

Meanwhile, through the last quarter of the nineteenth century, soccer began a slow and painful climb to popularity outside the university and professional framework. Through the 1880s, newly arrived Irish, English, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants helped the game take root in New York, New Jersey, and New England. From there, soccer began moving westward. Soccer associations, mostly made up of immigrants, sprung up in cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis. In 1883, the Pullman Railroad Car Company of Chicago built a soccer field for its immigrant employees—a testament to the sport's popularity in Chicago and an early example of American business paternalism.

While these developments were unfolding in the US, the British planted the seeds of association football throughout Europe, where the game grew rapidly. As a result, the crowds of European immigrants who changed the face of the US during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also carried their newfound adoration of soccer to the New World. Ethnic football clubs and leagues, such as the former German American League and Brooklyn Hispano and the New York Greek American Soccer Club (also known as the New York Greek Americans), were essential in promoting American soccer and socialization among immigrant groups.

Professionalization, “Americanization,” and New Immigrants

By the 1920s, soccer had become popular enough in the US to form its first professional league, the American Soccer League (ASL). Industrial corporations behind the organization of this league imported European stars to entertain newly arrived immigrant workers. Over the years, the pattern of ethnic clubs fielding ASL teams became commonplace among Irish, Scottish, Hispanic, Italian, German, Polish, and Ukrainian immigrants.

As international soccer competitions developed, the US fielded teams comprising predominantly immigrants. The US national team that competed in the first World Cup competition in Uruguay in 1930 consisted mainly of naturalized British and Scottish professional players. That was also the case when the US achieved one of the most significant victories in national team history—a win over world power England during the 1950 World Cup competition. After World War II, new immigrants and returning service members gave soccer a boost throughout the US. As displaced persons arrived from Europe, they formed new soccer clubs, some of which sought admission to the ASL. At that time, it seemed that the American game would forever remain the diversion of immigrants.

Three decades after World War II, things began to change. In 1975, the recently formed North American Soccer League (NASL) imported some of the world’s best players, such as Brazilian superstar Pelé, to play in the US. This effort to popularize and legitimize the sport among broader segments of American society paid off. Interest in the game soared. In 1964, the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) began to foster the sport among suburban children in Southern California. AYSO and other youth soccer organizations grew slowly. However, by 1978, more than 350,000 American children were registered with these organizations, and 5,800 high schools fielded teams. White, middle-class suburbia provided the most fertile ground for this frenzied growth.

The Americanization of soccer appeared to have begun. NASL even began limiting the numbers of foreigners allowed on its teams, and US-born players and coaches began to move up the professional ranks. NASL eventually folded, but during the 1990s, the US men’s national soccer team became a regional powerhouse and a fixture in World Cup competitions. The women’s national team, built almost entirely on home-grown talent, did even better. It won the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and several Olympic gold medals. When the US hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994, the competition set new attendance and revenue records for the event. By the time a new professional soccer league, Major League Soccer (MLS), formed in 1996, soccer had grown from an immigrant game into the team sport with the most participation among children throughout the US.

Despite the growing Americanization of the game, the love affair between soccer and immigrants in the US never abated. Indeed, as most of the new immigrants entering the country during the beginning of the twenty-first century were coming from soccer-crazed countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, immigrant soccer players and fans in the US became more prominent than ever. Their numbers were particularly evident at games played by visiting teams from Latin America, where fans supporting the foreign teams generally outnumbered those supporting the American teams. 

In 2007, at the height of the international superstar’s career, David Beckham chose to move to the US to play for the MLS team, the LA Galaxy—a move that supported the growth of MLS's popularity and soccer's visibility in the US. As a sign that soccer continues to move from being a sport of immigrants to one embedded in American sports culture, the US men’s and women’s soccer teams experienced increasing success in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The women’s team secured World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019 and won Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Although the men’s team was not as successful, the talent the team could amass is a testament to the newer generations of Americans who have accepted soccer as not just an immigrant sport but one vital to American sports as well. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, youth soccer includes many demographics in the US, and soccer has secured mainstream success. Still, immigrants tend to comprise the rosters of MLS teams in larger proportion than American-born players. 


Bibliography

Allaway, Roger. Rangers, Rovers and Spindles: Soccer, Immigration and Textiles in New England and New Jersey. St. Johann Press, 2005.

Carlisle, Jeff. "David Beckham's LA Galaxy Debut: An Oral History on the 10-year Anniversary." ESPN, 20 July 2017, www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37478625/oral-history-10-year-anniversary. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

"The Ethnic Legacy in American Soccer." Soccer History USA, 1996, soccerhistoryusa.org/asha/ethniclegacy.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Goldblatt, David. The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer. Riverhead Books, 2008.

Guerrero, Maurizio. "For Immigrants, Soccer Is Often More Than a Sport." Prism, 2 Aug. 2021, prismreports.org/2021/08/02/for-immigrants-soccer-is-often-more-than-a-sport/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Hollander, Zander, editor. The American Encyclopedia of Soccer. Everest House, 1980.

"How Many Trophies have the USWNT Won?" Goal.com, 24 July 2021, www.goal.com/en-us/news/how-many-trophies-have-the-uswnt-won-record-most-appearances--top-goalscorers/m8guw99wrtt11xpot4kxonw00. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Litterer, David. "Chicago's Soccer History." US Soccer History, 25 May 2010, ussoccerhistory.org/ASHA/ASHA/chicago.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.

Markovits, Andrei S., and Steven L. Hellerman. Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Princeton UP, 2001.

Wangerin, David. Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America’s Forgotten Game. WSC Books, 2006.

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