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 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, with authorization given by FIFA and ratified by Stanley Rous.Permission is Received by International League to Continue its Schedule - NY TimesO Estado de Sâo Paulo. Brazilian newspaper. May 24th 1961.
Rous's blessing of the International Soccer League was the second of his 3 attempts, as a FIFA official, to support a "club world cup", preceded by his involvement in the 1951 Copa Rio and followed by his 1967-1970 proposal to expand the Intercontinental Cup into a FIFA-sponsored multicontinental Club World Cup. However, the concurrence of the UEFA/CONMEBOL-endorsed Intercontinental Cup, launched also in 1960, ended up overshadowing the International Soccer League and the relevance it might have had as a club world championship."Torneio mundial de futebol nos Estados Unidos" on Estado de São Paulo Brazilian newspaper. January, 15, 1960, page 18. As both the Intercontinental Cup and the International Soccer League were first played in 1960, by that year it was possibly unclear which one of the two competitions would have its "club world cup" prestige stick among football fans and mass media; as a consequence, the champion club of the 1960 International Soccer League, Brazilian Bangu, has announced it will request FIFA recognition to its title as a Club World Cup.[https://www.bangu-ac.com.br/titulo-mundial-do-bangu-faz-58-anos/https://odia.ig.com.br/esporte/2017-11-10/bangu-vai-pedir-a-fifa-reconhecimento-do-titulo-mundial-de-1960.html]
History 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.The Year in American Soccer - 1961: The American Soccer League on Sover.net (archived, 9 Oct 1999) 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.The Year in American Soccer - 1965 on Sover.net 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.The Year in American Soccer - 1966 on Sover.net
List of champions
League 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.USA - International Soccer League II by David A. Litterer at the RSSSF
Ed. Year Champion 1st.leg 2nd.leg Runner-up Venue 1960 Bangu Kilmarnock Polo Grounds 1961 Dukla Prague Everton Polo Grounds 1962 America (RJ) Belenenses Polo Grounds 1963 West Ham United Górnik Zabrze Polo Grounds 1964 Zagłębie Sosnowiec Werder Bremen Downing Stadium 1965 Polonia Bytom New York Americans Randall's Island Stadium
American Challenge Cup 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.
Ed. Year Champion 1st.leg 2nd.leg Runner-up 1960 Bangu 1961 Dukla Prague 1962 Dukla Prague America (RJ) 1963 Dukla Prague West Ham United 1964 Dukla Prague Zagłębie Sosnowiec 1965 Polonia Bytom Dukla Prague Notes
League MVP 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)Ademir sonha estrear Arena Palestra ao lado de ex-colegas do Palmeiras on Sportv.com, 4 Apr 2012 and Válter Santos (Bangu)Bangu campaign in 1961 on Bangu.net respectively. Year Player Team 1960 Ademir da Guia Bangu 1961 Válter Santos Bangu 1962 Carl Bogelein Reutlingen 1963 Bobby Moore West Ham United 1964 Gerhard Zebrowski Werder Bremen 1965 Uwe Schwart New York Americans
Teams participations Winning years are indicated in bold Team Year/s contested AEK Athens 1964 América RJ 1962 EC Bahia 1964 Bangu 1960, 1961 Bayern Munich 1960 Belenenses 1962, 1963 Beşiktaş 1961 Blackburn Rovers 1964 Burnley 1960 Club Deportivo Oro 1963 Dinamo Bucharest 1961 Dinamo Zagreb 1963 Dukla Prague 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 Dundee 1962 Elfsborg 1962 Espanyol 19612 Everton 1961 Ferencváros 1965 Glenavon 1960 Górnik Zabrze 1963 Guadalajara 1962 Hajduk Split 1962 Hapoel Petah Tikva 1961 Helsingborgs IF 1963 Heart of Midlothian 1964 Karlsruhe 1961 Kilmarnock 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965 Lanerossi-Vicenza 1964 Mantua 1963 Monaco 1961 Montreal Concordia 1961 MTK Budapest 1962 New York Americans 1960, 1961, 1965 Nice 1960 Norrköping 1960 Palermo 1962 Panathinaikos 1962 Polonia Bytom 1965 Portuguesa 1965 Preussen Munster 1963 Rapid Wien 1960, 1961 Real Oviedo 1962 Real Valladolid 1963 Sport Recife 1963 Reutlingen 1962 Red Star Belgrade 1960, 1961, 1964 Sampdoria 1960 Schwechat 1964 Shamrock Rovers 1961 Sporting Lisbon 1960 TSV 1860 Munich 1965 Újpest 1963 Valenciennes 1963 Varese 1965 Vitória de Guimarães 1964 Wiener AC 1962, 1963 Werder Bremen 1964 West Bromwich Albion 1965 West Ham United 1963, 1965 Zagłębie Sosnowiec 1964
References
External links Annual standings by Dave Litterer on Sover.net (archived) USA - International Soccer League II by David A. Litterer on the RSSSF 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