The big winner in Thursday’s 2026 World Cup cities announcement was the Hunt family, which backed two winning bids. Clark Hunt, the chairman of Hunt Sports Group and Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas CEO, was the co-chair of the Kansas City bid committee while his brother, FC Dallas president Dan Hunt, served as chair […]
Paul Kennedy
Paul Kennedy edited Soccer America for 41 years (1985-2026). He began writing for SA in 1974. He started writing for France Football in 1978 and has served on in Ballon d'Or jury since 2007.
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Sounders are Concacaf champions!
The Seattle Sounders are Concacaf champions. It only took 14 seasons for an MLS team to win the Concacaf Champions League, but when the Sounders won on Wednesday night, they did so going away. Their 3-0 win over UNAM before a Concacaf Champions League record crowd of 68,741 gave the Sounders a 5-2 aggregate victory, […]
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Awards: Walt Chyzowych honors go to ref Esse Baharmast, USA World Cup 1990 team, and Rick Davis
Former referee Esse Baharmast will be honored with the Walt Chyzowych Lifetime Achievement Award on Jan. 22 at the United Soccer Coaches Convention. Also at ceremony in Kansas City, Walt Chyzowych Distinguished Playing Career Awards will be given to members of the 1990 U.S. men’s national team, the first to qualify for a World Cup […]
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American soccer's missing resource: time
The only thing American soccer never got was time. Time to grow to quietly, over generations, outside the bright lights of television. Like soccer around the world, which got a half-century start on the American game, the major American sports grew organically in cities and towns long before the pro games thrived. The first sporting […]
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MLS Preview: The 27 players everyone will be talking about
MLS kicks off the 2021 season on Friday with 27 teams. Here’s a look at the 27 players everyone will be talking about, from MVP candidates to Homegrown players breaking into their first teams. MVP candidates … Two Argentines, two Spaniards, two Uruguayans. What has become a consistent formula for success in MLS. 1. Lucas […]
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Along for the ride
I don’t drive much in the Berkeley area these days — I don’t like to and I don’t need to — but I did a lot of driving last week in Dallas, mostly in the Frisco area. Some people count license plates. On my way through Dallas from Love Field, I counted election signs. They […]
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Wishful thinking? La Liga plans to play league games in U.S. market
Thursday’s announcement that La Liga, as part of a joint venture with Relevent, which organizes the International Champions Cup, plans on bringing Spanish league soccer to the United States raiseslots of questions: — When will it start? — Which teams will play? — How many games will be played? — Where will they play? Not […]
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Dan Karosen on FC Motown, from co-ed team to NPSL championship contender, and building a sustainable club
As FC somethings go in American soccer, FC Motown is a pretty good name. No, it’s got nothing to do with Detroit. It’s based in Morristown — Mo-town — a town of about 20,000 located inNew Jersey about 45 minutes west of New York. It’s a commuter town with a large Hispanic community, making it […]
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World Cup Retro 2006: Five names to have at your fingertips
Here are five names to have at your fingertips about the 18th World Cup, hosted by Germany and won by Italy. Angela Merkel. “A Time to Make Friends” was the officialslogan of a World Cup in which Germany would have a chance to show it’s a “hospitable, joyful and modern nation bursting with ideas,” said […]
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World Cup Retro 1998: Five names to have at your fingertips
Here are five names to have at your fingertips about the 16th World Cup, hosted and won by France. Major League Soccer. In the first World Cup since MLS’s 1996 launch, U.S.coach Steve Sampson’s squad included 16 MLS players, among them 1994 World Cup players who had returned from Europe to play in the new […]