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United States fans cheer as Martinique players walk back to midfield after the U.S. scored during the first half of their Gold Cup match at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., July 14, 2003. (©AP/WWP/Winslow Townson)
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What the rest of the world calls football, is known as soccer in the United States. It was not widely played until the 1970s, when the North American Soccer League (NASL) brought international stars like Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer to the United States. The NASL did not last; however, the league left a legacy of growing American involvement in the sport, especially at the youth level.
By the 1990s, soccer was recognized as the fastest-growing college and high school sport in the United States. The increased American interest in soccer, sparked by the 1994 World Cup, which took place in the United States, led to the formation of a new professional soccer league, called Major League Soccer (MLS). The league, consisting of ten teams, began play in 1996.
Abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials.
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