Before MLS, the NASL was a popular competition in the United States, pulling in players like Pele, George Best and Johan Cruyff. NASL clubs mainly played in American football and baseball stadiums, and after the league went broke and MLS succeeded the NASL in the next decade, MLS clubs did not have stadiums of their own starting out.
On Tuesday, the suburb of Bridgeview and the Chicago Fire announced that the terms of their lease had been amended, meaning that the club will no longer play its matches in the village — more specifically, at SeatGeek Stadium — through the 2036 season, as the original lease dictated.
If you build it, they will come. That comes as no surprise given the approximate season ticket waitlist of 13,000, but the Portland Timbers finally put on their 2019 home opener — 13 matches into the MLS season — in front of a sellout crowd of 25,218 at Providence Park on Saturday night.
The stadium, located in southwest Portland, underwent an $85 million expansion that added roughly 4,000 seats to the eastern side of the stadium, accounting for the Timbers’ historic 12-game road trip to begin the season.
On Sunday, Union Berlin (third place finisher in the 2. Bundesliga) upset VfB Stuttgart (16th place finisher in the Bundesliga) in the Relegation Playoffs to send the second division side into Germany’s top division for the first time in its 54-year history.
The final whistle was greeted with delirium inside Union’s home ground, the Alte Försterei. The club, which is located in the south east of Berlin, has a passionate fanbase and routinely draws 22,000 to its unique all-standing stadium.
Europe has a rich history of football and so too is the case with its stadiums. Sadly, the old and classic stadiums that we know and love are becoming outdated.
We all know what it would mean to Liverpool if the club could capture its first league title since 1989-90, but something similar has gone down in Greece where PAOK has just been crowned Super League champions for the first time since 1984-85.
Based in Thessaloniki — the most populous city in Greece outside of Athens — PAOK had suffered heartbreak after heartbreak following that 1985 title, including finishing runners-up in both 2015-16 and 2017-18.
Yesterday, I was one of the fortunate 19,796 to witness Minnesota United open Allianz Field in Saint Paul. Ultimately I was very blessed because I got to take part in a spectacular atmosphere, but more so because I got to watch NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson finesse one into his own net.
The match took place at 4:00 p.m. with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees and the sun appearing about as frequently as a Minnesota clean sheet.
After four years of construction hamstrung by disputes and delays, Tottenham finally moved into “New White Hart Lane” on Wednesday with all the pomp and razzmatazz of a night that could’ve ended in tragic hubristic downfall against Crystal Palace. But second half goals from Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen sent 62,062 spectators home happy with Spurs climbing back to third in the table, one point above both Arsenal and Chelsea.
With FC Cincinnati joining the fold, the 2019 Major League Soccer season consists of 24 teams. Next year, that number will grow to 26 with the debuts of Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC. By 2022, it’ll be 28 teams with Austin FC already one of the confirmed expansion sides. There are many cities vying for slots 28 and beyond, and the current frontrunners seem to be Sacramento, St. Louis and Detroit.
This summer, the International Champions Cup returns for the seventh straight year as the globe’s premier preseason competition.