The New York Cosmos (simply the Cosmos in 1977–1978) was an American professional soccer club based in New York City and its suburbs. The team played home games in three stadiums around New York, including Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Downing Stadium on Randalls Island, before moving to Giants Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1977, where the club remained for the rest of its history.
Founded in December 1970, the team competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) until 1984 and was the strongest franchise in that league, both competitively and financially – based largely around its backing by Warner Communications President Steve Ross, which enabled it to sign internationally famous stars of the day such as the Brazilian forward Pelé, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia, the West German sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, and Brazilian rightback Carlos Alberto Torres. The acquisition of these foreign players, particularly Pelé, made the Cosmos into what journalist Gavin Newsham called "the most glamorous team in world football", and contributed to the development of soccer across the United States, a country where it had previously been largely ignored.
By the end of the 1980 season, the NASL was faltering, feeling the effects of over-expansion, the economic recession, and disputes with the players union. Attendances fell, the league's television deal was lost, and it finally folded in 1985 after playing its last season in 1984. The Cosmos attempted to continue operations in the Major Indoor Soccer League, but attendances were so low that the club withdrew without completing a season. The team attempted an independent schedule in 1985, but also canceled that because of low attendance, and the Cosmos folded. Former club employee Peppe Pinton assumed the trademarks and property of the club when it was dissolved, in part because nobody else thought they had any value at that point. Pinton put the trophies, uniforms, and equipment into storage and operated a New Jersey day camp for children under the name "Cosmos Soccer Camp".
Attempts were made to revive the Cosmos name during the 1990s and 2000s, most notably as a Major League Soccer (MLS) club. Pinton refused to sell the name and image rights, believing that MLS would not honor the club's heritage. Following the revival of several former NASL names in MLS, Pinton sold the rights for $2 million to an international, English-based consortium in August 2009. That group ultimately chose not to join MLS, and the new Cosmos team played parts of five seasons in second- and third-tier leagues before suspending operations.
In July 2025, it was announced that the Cosmos name and identity had been sold again, this time to a new expansion club that plans to begin playing in the third-tier USL League One at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey in 2026.
History
Creation and naming
The club was founded in December 1970 by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, renowned executives at Atlantic Records, along with eight other executives from Atlantic's parent company Warner Communications, including CEO Steve Ross, president Jay Emmett, and Warner Bros. studio head Ted Ashley, each of whom put up one-tenth of the $350,000 NASL expansion fee. After several months of mounting financial losses, Emmett convinced Ross that the company should take on the financial burden. The ten investors sold the club to their employer Warner Communications for one dollar, and Ross threw the conglomerate's weight behind the Cosmos. Emmett later said of the move "(the Cosmos) was an entertainment vehicle, (Warner) was an entertainment company."
The team's first recruit was the Englishman Clive Toye, a former sportswriter who had moved to the United States in 1967 to become general manager of the short-lived Baltimore Bays; he was given the same post in New York. Toye sought to convey the new team's ambitions within its name, and reasoned that he could outdo the "Metropolitans" label referenced by the then-nine-year-old New York Mets baseball team by calling his team the "Cosmos", shortened from "Cosmopolitans". However, the owners preferred other possible names: the Erteguns wished to use the name originally suggested by Nesuhi, the "New York Blues"; and another part of the ownership group wanted to adopt the name "New York Lovers". Toye then staged a rigged "name the team" contest, receiving 3,000 entries and selecting one that just happened to match his pre-determined winner. Two NYC physical education teachers, Meyer Diller and Al Capelli, from Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, had arrived at Cosmos the same way Toye had, earning a trip to Europe as a prize. The team name was officially unveiled on February 4, 1971.Newsham (2006). p. 22.
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was founded in 1968. The New York Cosmos entered the league in 1970, and made their field debut in the league's fourth season in 1971. The first roster signing of the club was Gordon Bradley, an English professional who had moved to North America in 1963 and played for the New York Generals in 1968. He was made player-coach, a position he would hold until 1975. Bradley's team finished second in its division in its first year, playing at Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees baseball team and the New York Giants football team. Randy Horton, from Bermuda, was named the league's Rookie of the Year after scoring 16 goals and 37 points, the most by any New York player.The North American Soccer League operated a "points" system whereby a goal earned two points and an assist one. In 1972, the team moved to Hofstra Stadium where they won their first league title with a 2–1 victory over the St. Louis Stars. Horton was the league's top scorer and Most Valuable Player, with 9 goals and 22 points from the 14 regular-season games and two post-season matches. The Cosmos reached the play-offs once more in 1973, but were knocked out at the semi-final stage. Bradley coached the United States national team for six games during 1973—picking himself in one, despite not being an American citizen—but lost them all.Bradley became a citizen of the United States in 1974. Before the 1974 season, the Cosmos moved again, settling at Downing Stadium on Randall's Island. In their first year at their new base, they finished bottom of their division. Horton top scored for the Cosmos in every season before he was traded in 1975 to the Washington Diplomats.
Arrival of Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia and the Cosmos' peak It was during the 1975 season that the Cosmos acquired the Brazilian star Pelé, whom they had been attempting to sign since the team was created. Ross had apparently not heard of him before getting involved in soccer, but agreed to finance the transfer when Toye compared the Brazilian's popularity to that of the Pope. Pelé joined the Cosmos on June 10, 1975, on a salary of $1.4 million per year, an enormous wage for an athlete at that time. A number of contracts—only one of which mentioned soccer—were set up for Pelé to ensure that he paid the lowest amount of tax possible, including one as a "recording artist" with Warner subsidiary Atlantic Records. "We owned him lock, stock and barrel," Toye retrospectively boasted. They also signed Mike Dillon in 1975.
The Pelé deal was later described by Gavin Newsham, an English writer, as "the transfer coup of the century". His arrival turned the Cosmos from a motley crew of foreigners, semi-professionals and students into a huge commercial presence. The club's groundsman, on hearing that the Brazilian's début for New York was to be broadcast on CBS, spray-painted the pitch green to disguise how little grass was on it: the match, against the Dallas Tornado, was broadcast to 22 countries and covered by more than 300 journalists from all over the world.
Although New York finished third at season end, it was still too low a placing to reach the post-season. Bradley was replaced for the 1976 season by another Englishman, Ken Furphy, who paired Pelé up front with Italian international forward Giorgio Chinaglia, a new arrival from S.S. Lazio. He had been so popular at Lazio that when his move to New York was announced, supporters "threatened to throw themselves beneath the wheels of the plane". By contrast to most of the overseas stars bought by NASL teams, Chinaglia was signed in his prime. He played for the Cosmos for the rest of their history, scoring a record number of goals and points not only for the Cosmos, but for the entire league. He shared an unusual personal bond with the club's ultimate controller, Ross, and was therefore treated differently from the other players, including Pelé.
Crowds rose with the arrival of these and other European and South American international players, resulting in a move back to Yankee Stadium for the 1976 season. With numerous foreign stars arriving at the Cosmos, the team's competitive performance improved, as New York reached the play-offs at the end of the season, but lost in the divisional championship match to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The Cosmos relocated again before the 1977 season, to the newly constructed Giants Stadium in New Jersey, and at the same time dropped the prefix "New York" and played simply as "the Cosmos", without a geographical name. The city name was restored in 1979.
Bradley returned as coach for the 1977 season in place of the dismissed Furphy, but was removed after half of the season to become the club's vice-president of player personnel. South African-born former Italy international Eddie Firmani took his place. Pelé played his last professional match on October 1, 1977, in front of a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium: in an exhibition match between New York and his former club Santos, Pelé appeared for both sides, playing one half for each. The Cosmos won the game 2–1. Pelé's compatriot, former Brazil captain Carlos Alberto was signed in 1977, at the same time as Franz Beckenbauer, who had captained the 1974 FIFA World Cup-winning West Germany national team. On the field, New York won three out of four championships, in 1977, 1978 and 1980. A playoff game against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1977 drew a crowd of 77,691, a record for American club soccer. The team's average attendances, regularly over 40,000 during the late 1970s, were the biggest in the league; this helped it to become regarded as the league's "marquee club", both commercially and competitively. Firmani was fired in 1979; he claimed, after falling out with Chinaglia. His assistant, Ray Klivecka, replaced him, becoming the team's first American-born coach. He lasted a season before himself being replaced by Júlio Mazzei.
On Pelé's farewell tour in 1977, the Cosmos made history by becoming the first Western professional sports team to play in China. They drew their opening match with the Chinese national team 1-1, and lost the second game 2-1 despite Pelé scoring a free kick.
Decline of the Cosmos and the NASL
After the retirement of Pelé in 1977, much of the progress that American soccer had made during his stay was lost; there was no star at the same level to replace him as the NASL's headline act. While the deep pockets of Warner Communications had allowed the Cosmos to run at a loss, much of the league had become caught up in an unsustainable level of spending trying to keep up with them. After enduring briefly during the late 1970s, attendances dropped after 1980. The sport's popularity fell and the media lost interest. The deal with broadcaster ABC to broadcast NASL matches was also lost in 1980, and the 1981 Soccer Bowl was only shown on tape delay. All of the franchises quickly became unprofitable, and a salary cap enforced before the 1984 season only slightly delayed the inevitable. The league folded at the end of 1984, following the loss of most of its franchises.