History of professional soccer in Seattle
aspect of history
Seattle has had professional soccer clubs for over four decades who have played in various leagues since the 1970s. These include three incarnations of the Seattle Sounders FC, playing in the North American Soccer League, United Soccer League, and Major League Soccer.
The city is also home to Seattle Reign FC, which began in 2013 as a founding member of the National Women's Soccer League. Seattle has also hosted teams from the Continental Indoor Soccer League and the Major Arena Soccer League.
Timeline
Seattle Sounders (NASL), 1974–1983
On December 11, 1973, a group of Seattle investors led by Walt Daggatt were granted rights to a franchise in the top-level North American Soccer League (NASL), one of three (including Vancouver Whitecaps FC and San Jose Earthquakes) heralding the expansion of America's struggling top-tier soccer league to the west coast. With a budget under $500,000, the investors searched existing American and British teams to assemble a coaching squad and assemble a lineup. Longtime NASL All-Star player John Best was hired as coach and recruited former Everton star Jimmy Gabriel, 1969 NASL MVP Pepe Fernandez, Crewe defender Dave Gillett and Hartlepool goalkeeper Barry Watling, among others.
On January 22, 1974, the team was christened Seattle Sounders, the moniker having won a highly publicized "name the team" contest (Seattle Mariners, the eventual name of the city's second baseball team, was a runner-up). The "lads" (so-called because the team were largely English players) were introduced to the media and the public in early Spring, announcing they would play their first home game on May 5. At the time, soccer was largely ignored by the national media, and the game was understood and played by a very small percentage of the population; but Seattle's post-war immigrants from Scandinavia and Britain had brought awareness of soccer, and a youth soccer league had started in 1966.
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