The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the United States. The league final was called the Soccer Bowl from 1975 to 1983 and the Soccer Bowl Series in its final year, 1984. The league was headed by Commissioner Phil Woosnam from 1969 to 1983. The NASL laid the foundations for soccer in the United States that helped lead to the country hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the set-up of Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.
The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The Elks were founded in 1949 as the Edmonton Eskimos and have won the Grey Cup championship fourteen times, most recently in 2015 and the most of any CFL club based in Western Canada. The team has a rivalry with the Calgary Stampeders and is one of the three community-owned teams in the CFL. The team discontinued using the Eskimos name in 2020, with the new name Elks formally announced on June 1, 2021.
The USL First Division was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010.
The Syracuse Salty Dogs were a professional men's soccer team based in Syracuse, New York. The name of the club originates from "Salty Dog" which is nautical slang for an experienced sailor who has spent much of his life aboard a ship at sea and thus generally given increased credibility by ship mates in matters pertaining to ship-board life and duties. The club was a member of the USL A-League, playing only two seasons from 2003–2004. The club was owned and operated by the Syracuse Pro Sports Group and played most home games at P&C Stadium. The team suspended operations in October 2004 due to financial difficulties and has not played since. However, groups have been working to return pro soccer to Syracuse.
Commonwealth Stadium is an open-air, multipurpose stadium located in the McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 56,302, making it the largest open-air stadium in Canada. Primarily used for Canadian football, it also hosts athletics, soccer, rugby union and concerts.
Clarke Stadium is a multipurpose facility located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The stadium was originally built for Canadian football. Over the years different sports have participated at the site.
The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. Armory. Founded as an expansion franchise in 1974, the Diplomats competed in the now-defunct North American Soccer League, then the top-tier soccer league of the American soccer pyramid.
The Edmonton Drillers were a North American Soccer League team that played both outdoors and indoors from 1979 to 1982, at the peak of the league's success. The team was brought to Edmonton by local entrepreneur and Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, after witnessing the strong support for Brian Rice's Edmonton Black Gold team in 1978. Previous to playing in Edmonton, the team was known as the Oakland Stompers, Hartford Bicentennials and Connecticut Bicentennials.
The Edmonton Brick Men were a Canadian soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League and the Western Soccer Alliance. During their time in the WSA and the CSL, the team played at both John Ducey Park and Clarke Stadium for their matches. The choice of John Ducey Park was due in part to the sharing of costs with the Edmonton Trappers.
Sean Fraser is a former professional soccer player who played the majority of his career in the United Soccer Leagues.
The original Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) was a Division 1 professional soccer league that operated in Canada in 1983. It was a nationwide league that had six franchises in three provinces. It lasted for just one abridged, 73-day, summer season in 1983.
There are a variety of sports in Edmonton played professionally, as amateurs, or recreationally.
Gordon Chin is a Canadian former soccer player. He is of partial Chinese descent.
The second iteration of the Toronto Blizzard was a Canadian professional soccer team in Toronto, Ontario that competed in the Canadian Soccer League, National Soccer League, and the American Professional Soccer League. The club was formed shortly after the folding of the original team that coincided with the folding of the North American Soccer League. This edition of the club folded in 1993 after poor financial prospects and lack of attendance.
The Edmonton Drillers, a Canadian indoor soccer team, was reconstituted in August 1996 under the ownership of Peter Pocklington. The team ("Drillers") was based at Edmonton Coliseum and played in the National Professional Soccer League. Ownership passed to Wojtek Wojcicki in 1998 and Drillers won the NPSL National Conference in the 1998–1999 season. The franchise ended in November 2000 owing to financial difficulties.
Ross Ongaro is a retired Canadian soccer player who earned one cap each with the Canada U-20 men's national soccer team and Canadian Olympic soccer team. He played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance and American Indoor Soccer Association. He has coached extensively at the professional level and was the head coach of the Canadian Beach Soccer and Futsal Teams until September 2011. He has been hired by the Chinese Football Association to become their National Beach Soccer Head Coach.
The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played its home games at West Chester University's John A. Farrell Stadium. The team played at Widener University's Leslie Quick Stadium in 2011. The Women's Professional Soccer league folded on May 18, 2012, after an earlier announcement that the 2012 season would be suspended.
Puget Sound Gunners FC was an American soccer team based in Issaquah, Washington, United States. Founded in 2010, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, from 2011 to 2015.
Soccer in St. Louis, which dates from 1882, includes pro, college, select and prep soccer teams in St. Louis, Missouri, collectively forming one of the nation's richest municipal soccer heritages.
The Edmonton Eagles were a Canadian professional soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the original Canadian Professional Soccer League in 1983. They finished as champions in the league's only season.
