While soccer’s surge in popularity is a recent phenomenon in the United States, the sport has been deeply embedded in the fabric of life in St. Louis for 150 years.
St. Louis has developed more than 75 men and women who have represented their country in international soccer, fielded more than 90 national championship teams, and sent more than 30 players, coaches, and officials into national soccer halls of fame. St. Louis is the site of the first international soccer match played in the United States in 1884. The city is the birthplace of one of the nation’s first professional soccer leagues formed in 1907. St. Louis is home to World Cup players, starting with Ralph Tracey in the first Cup in 1930 and continuing in the 2020s with Tim Ream, Josh Sargent, and Becky Sauerbrunn.
From the very first game in 1875 to the five St. Louis players who helped the United States stun England in the 1950 World Cup to the latest national champions in the 2020s, author Dave Lange chronicles almost 150 key moments in the 150-year history of the world’s most popular sport in America’s first soccer city.