Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL

Overview

Nearly 40 years since its demise, the North American Soccer League continues to linger in the memories and imaginations of soccer fans across the United States — and beyond. The colorful, oftentimes controversial league attracted some of the game’s greatest players: Pele, Best, Cruyff, Muller, Beckenbauer, to name a few. Crowds of 70,000-plus flocked to games as the NASL brought star power to a country where soccer had been virtually invisible just a few years earlier.

Cast

Brandi Chastain

Self

N/A

Clive Toye

Self

Pelé

Self (archive footage)

George Best

Self (archive footage)

Johan Cruijff

Self (archive footage)

N/A

Giorgio Chinaglia

Self (archive footage)

Franz Beckenbauer

Self (archive footage)