The International Soccer League was a U.S.-based soccer league which was formed in 1960 and collapsed in 1965. The League, affiliated with the American Soccer League, featured guest teams primarily from Europe and some from Asia, South America, Canada and Mexico.
The creation of the League was announced in January 1960, when it was regarded as an attempt to create a Club World Cup. However, the concurrence of the UEFA/CONMEBOL-endorsed Intercontinental Cup, launched also in 1960, nullified any possibility that the League might have relevance as a club world championship.[1]
In 1960, William D. Cox, a wealthy U.S. businessman and former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, a U.S. baseball team, saw a potential market in the United States for top-level soccer. Recognizing that U.S. teams did not play at a sufficiently high level to attract the attention of most fans, he began to consider the possibility of importing European and South American teams during their league off-seasons. Traditionally, tours by European clubs in the northeast United States had drawn well and Cox decided to pursue this approach.
However, soccer in the U.S. was run by the U.S. Soccer Football Association (USSFA). As a member of the soccer's international governing organization, FIFA, the USSFA had the sole power in the U.S. to authorize the creation of a new league, and any league created without USSFA authority would be declared an "outlaw league". Any person playing in an "outlaw league" would then be banned from playing in any other league or team affiliated with FIFA, and as nearly every league and team in the world was affiliated with the world soccer body, this would effectively ban a player from playing soccer anywhere.
To get USSFA approval, Cox worked through the existing American Soccer League, a USSFA-recognized league. This went so far that in 1961, the ASL scheduled only one game during the ISL season in order to keep from drawing fan support from the league.[2] Each year, the ISL played two halves to its season, with different sets of teams; the top team from each half played each other in a season-ending championship game. In order to give the American fans a greater stake in the league, Cox also decided to enter a team of U.S.-based players; this team, called variably New York, the New Yorkers and the New York Americans, was usually a mix of U.S.-based European professionals with some native all-stars. Cox also gained regional television coverage, and the associated revenue stream. While the games were initially played in the New York metropolitan area, as interest in the ISL increased, he expanded the league to Chicago, Detroit, Boston and Los Angeles.
The ISL lasted only through the end of the 1965 season before folding, not so much by its continuing financial losses (some $100,000 over five seasons), but due to the continuing hostility of the USSFA. The ISL's growing success, combined with Cox’ refusal to allow USSFA a part in the league management, led to the USSFA's fear losing control of soccer in the United States. In 1965 the organization forbade Cox from importing teams into the U.S. and threatened to declare the ISL an outlaw league. Cox was forced to fold the ISL, but sued USSFA in federal court for anti-trust violations, a suit he eventually won.[3] While the ISL played its last season in 1965, the model was used again in 1967 when the United Soccer Association (USA) imported foreign teams to populate its league and again in 1969 when the North American Soccer League (NASL) used imported teams for the first half of its season.
In 1967, Cox joined with several other investors to found the National Professional Soccer League, a non-USSFA sanctioned league which, the following year, merged with the US to become the NASL.[4]
List of championsEdit
Teams were divided into two groups (Section I and Section II) where they played a single round-robin tournament. Teams placed first in each group, played a final match to decide a champion.[5]
In 1962, the ISL initiated an annual challenge cup. It would pair the winner of the previous year's Challenge Cup winner with the current season's league champion. Dukla Prague had won the 1961 title, defeating Everton F.C. 7–2 and 2–0 in the championship. Therefore, they were paired in the first Challenge Cup with the 1962 season winner, América RJ. Dukla won and returned for the next three challenge cups, winning each, except for the last in which they fell to Polonia Bytom.
List of championsEdit
(Left) trophy of the American Challenge Cup; (right): plaque with the list of champions
^ abNo match held. Trophy directly awarded to champion of International Soccer League.
League MVPEdit
Beginning in 1961, the league champion was awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower trophy, but from 1962 to 1965 it was given to the league MVP. However, in 1960 and 1961 the best players in the tournament were Ademir da Guia (Bangu)[6] and Válter Santos (Bangu)[7] respectively.
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The International Soccer League was a U S based soccer league which was formed in 1960 and collapsed in 1965 The League affiliated with the American Soccer League featured guest teams primarily from Europe and some from Asia South America Canada and Mexico International Soccer LeagueOrganizing bodyAmerican Soccer LeagueFounded1960Abolished1965 58 years ago 1965 RegionInternationalNumber of teams9 1965 Last champion s Polonia BytomThe creation of the League was announced in January 1960 when it was regarded as an attempt to create a Club World Cup However the concurrence of the UEFA CONMEBOL endorsed Intercontinental Cup launched also in 1960 nullified any possibility that the League might have relevance as a club world championship 1 Contents 1 History 2 List of champions 3 American Challenge Cup 3 1 List of champions 4 League MVP 5 Teams participations 6 References 7 External linksHistory EditIn 1960 William D Cox a wealthy U S businessman and former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies a U S baseball team saw a potential market in the United States for top level soccer Recognizing that U S teams did not play at a sufficiently high level to attract the attention of most fans he began to consider the possibility of importing European and South American teams during their league off seasons Traditionally tours by European clubs in the northeast United States had drawn well and Cox decided to pursue this approach However soccer in the U S was run by the U S Soccer Football Association USSFA As a member of the soccer s international governing organization FIFA the USSFA had the sole power in the U S to authorize the creation of a new league and any league created without USSFA authority would be declared an outlaw league Any person playing in an outlaw league would then be banned from playing in any other league or team affiliated with FIFA and as nearly every league and team in the world was affiliated with the world soccer body this would effectively ban a player from playing soccer anywhere To get USSFA approval Cox worked through the existing American Soccer League a USSFA recognized league This went so far that in 1961 the ASL scheduled only one game during the ISL season in order to keep from drawing fan support from the league 2 Each year the ISL played two halves to its season with different sets of teams the top team from each half played each other in a season ending championship game In order to give the American fans a greater stake in the league Cox also decided to enter a team of U S based players this team called variably New York the New Yorkers and the New York Americans was usually a mix of U S based European professionals with some native all stars Cox also gained regional television coverage and the associated revenue stream While the games were initially played in the New York metropolitan area as interest in the ISL increased he expanded the league to Chicago Detroit Boston and Los Angeles The ISL lasted only through the end of the 1965 season before folding not so much by its continuing financial losses some 100 000 over five seasons but due to the continuing hostility of the USSFA The ISL s growing success combined with Cox refusal to allow USSFA a part in the league management led to the USSFA s fear losing control of soccer in the United States In 1965 the organization forbade Cox from importing teams into the U S and threatened to declare the ISL an outlaw league Cox was forced to fold the ISL but sued USSFA in federal court for anti trust violations a suit he eventually won 3 While the ISL played its last season in 1965 the model was used again in 1967 when the United Soccer Association USA imported foreign teams to populate its league and again in 1969 when the North American Soccer League NASL used imported teams for the first half of its season In 1967 Cox joined with several other investors to found the National Professional Soccer League a non USSFA sanctioned league which the following year merged with the US to become the NASL 4 List of champions EditTeams were divided into two groups Section I and Section II where they played a single round robin tournament Teams placed first in each group played a final match to decide a champion 5 Ed Year Champion 1st leg 2nd leg Agg Runner up1 1960 nbsp Bangu 2 0 2 0 nbsp Kilmarnock2 1961 nbsp Dukla Prague 7 2 2 0 9 2 nbsp Everton3 1962 nbsp America RJ 2 1 1 0 3 1 nbsp Belenenses4 1963 nbsp West Ham United 1 1 1 0 2 1 nbsp Gornik Zabrze5 1964 nbsp Zaglebie Sosnowiec 4 0 1 0 5 0 nbsp Werder Bremen6 1965 nbsp Polonia Bytom 3 0 2 1 5 1 nbsp New York AmericansAmerican Challenge Cup EditIn 1962 the ISL initiated an annual challenge cup It would pair the winner of the previous year s Challenge Cup winner with the current season s league champion Dukla Prague had won the 1961 title defeating Everton F C 7 2 and 2 0 in the championship Therefore they were paired in the first Challenge Cup with the 1962 season winner America RJ Dukla won and returned for the next three challenge cups winning each except for the last in which they fell to Polonia Bytom List of champions Edit nbsp nbsp Left trophy of the American Challenge Cup right plaque with the list of champions Ed Year Champion 1st leg 2nd leg Agg Runner up1 1960 nbsp Bangu n 1 2 1961 nbsp Dukla Prague n 1 2 1962 nbsp Dukla Prague 1 1 2 1 3 2 nbsp America RJ 2 1963 nbsp Dukla Prague 1 0 1 1 2 1 nbsp West Ham United2 1964 nbsp Dukla Prague 3 1 1 1 4 2 nbsp Zaglebie Sosnowiec2 1965 nbsp Polonia Bytom 2 0 1 1 3 1 nbsp Dukla PragueNotes a b No match held Trophy directly awarded to champion of International Soccer League League MVP EditBeginning in 1961 the league champion was awarded the Dwight D Eisenhower trophy but from 1962 to 1965 it was given to the league MVP However in 1960 and 1961 the best players in the tournament were Ademir da Guia Bangu 6 and Valter Santos Bangu 7 respectively Year Player Team1960 nbsp Ademir da Guia nbsp Bangu1961 nbsp Valter Santos nbsp Bangu1962 nbsp Carl Bogelein nbsp Reutlingen1963 nbsp Bobby Moore nbsp West Ham United1964 nbsp Gerhard Zebrowski nbsp Werder Bremen1965 nbsp Uwe Schwart nbsp New York AmericansTeams participations EditWinning years are indicated in bold Team Year s contested nbsp AEK Athens 1964 nbsp America RJ 1962 nbsp EC Bahia 1964 nbsp Bangu 1960 1961 nbsp Bayern Munich 1960 nbsp Belenenses 1962 1963 nbsp Besiktas 1961 nbsp Blackburn Rovers 1964 nbsp Burnley 1960 nbsp Club Deportivo Oro 1963 nbsp Dinamo Bucharest 1961 nbsp Dinamo Zagreb 1963 nbsp Dukla Prague 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 nbsp Dundee 1962 nbsp Elfsborg 1962 nbsp Espanyol 19612 nbsp Everton 1961 nbsp Ferencvaros 1965 nbsp Glenavon 1960 nbsp Gornik Zabrze 1963 nbsp Guadalajara 1962 nbsp Hajduk Split 1962 nbsp Hapoel Petah Tikva 1961 nbsp Helsingborgs IF 1963 nbsp Heart of Midlothian 1964 nbsp Karlsruhe 1961 nbsp Kilmarnock 1960 1961 1963 1965 nbsp Lanerossi Vicenza 1964 nbsp Mantua 1963 nbsp Monaco 1961 nbsp Montreal Concordia 1961 nbsp MTK Budapest 1962 nbsp New York Americans 1960 1961 1965 nbsp Nice 1960 nbsp Norrkoping 1960 nbsp Palermo 1962 nbsp Panathinaikos 1962 nbsp Polonia Bytom 1965 nbsp Portuguesa 1965 nbsp Preussen Munster 1963 nbsp Rapid Wien 1960 1961 nbsp Real Oviedo 1962 nbsp Real Valladolid 1963 nbsp Sport Recife 1963 nbsp Reutlingen 1962 nbsp Red Star Belgrade 1960 1961 1964 nbsp Sampdoria 1960 nbsp Schwechat 1964 nbsp Shamrock Rovers 1961 nbsp Sporting Lisbon 1960 nbsp TSV 1860 Munich 1965 nbsp Ujpest 1963 nbsp Valenciennes 1963 nbsp Varese 1965 nbsp Vitoria de Guimaraes 1964 nbsp Wiener AC 1962 1963 nbsp Werder Bremen 1964 nbsp West Bromwich Albion 1965 nbsp West Ham United 1963 1965 nbsp Zaglebie Sosnowiec 1964References Edit Torneio mundial de futebol nos Estados Unidos on Estado de Sao Paulo Brazilian newspaper January 15 1960 page 18 The Year in American Soccer 1961 The American Soccer League on Sover net archived 9 Oct 1999 The Year in American Soccer 1965 on Sover net The Year in American Soccer 1966 on Sover net USA International Soccer League II by David A Litterer at the RSSSF Ademir sonha estrear Arena Palestra ao lado de ex colegas do Palmeiras on Sportv com 4 Apr 2012 Bangu campaign in 1961 on Bangu netExternal links EditAnnual standings by Dave Litterer on Sover net archived U S Soccer History Chapter 8 The 1960s The Birth of the American Soccer Renaissance on Ayso88 org archived Series on Pitch Invasion net by Tom Dunmore from 2011 archived Part 1 They Even Cheered Technique The International Soccer League Part 2 In Lieu of Giants Part 3 Expanded Dreams Part 4 Struggling Towards Orbit Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title International Soccer League amp oldid 1166506330, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
