List of New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players

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The Cosmos before playing a friendly match v. Club Cipolletti in Argentina, March 1980. Giorgio Chinaglia (9), Franz Beckenbauer (6) and Carlos Alberto Torres (5) were part of the line up

The New York Cosmos were an American soccer club based in New York. The club was formed in 1970 by brothers Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, with the support of Warner Brothers president Steve Ross, and entered into the North American Soccer League (NASL), which had itself been founded in 1968. Backed by Ross's company, Warner Communications, the Cosmos became the league's strongest club, both on and off the field.[1] The team won five titles while drawing attendances unprecedented in American club soccer.[2] The Cosmos' commercial and on-field success declined during the early 1980s, along with the NASL itself, and after the league folded in 1984 the club dissolved a year later.[3] A new Cosmos team, formed in 2010,[4] is scheduled to begin play in the new second-tier North American Soccer League (contested since 2011) during the 2013 season.[5][6]

All players who played at least one league match for the Cosmos are given below. A total of 155 outfield players did so, along with 17 goalkeepers, giving a total of 172. Including the United States and Canada, a total of 34 nations from across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa were represented on the team's rosters over the course of its history. After the United States, the most common nation of origin was England, with 17 Cosmos players; Canada followed with 15. NASL all-star teams included 18 of the club's players in total. Eleven players who appeared as guests in exhibition games are listed separately below.

Key[]

Regular season players[]

A cropped profile shot of an older, white-haired man.
Charlie Aitken, seen in 2006
A middle-aged, bespecatacled man smiles in front of a wall covered with New York Cosmos memorabilia.
Ron Atanasio, pictured in 2010 with Cosmos memorabilia
A white soccer jersey, viewed from the back; the cuffs and collar are green and on the back it is marked with the number 6 and the name "Beckenbauer".
A 1977 Cosmos shirt bearing Franz Beckenbauer's name
A black-and-white photograph of footballers in action, taken from behind the goal as a penalty kick is taken. The ball has been kicked by the taker to the left of the goalkeeper, who has dived forlornly to his right.
Johan Neeskens scores the opening goal of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final
Two men in tailored suits laugh as they juggle a soccer ball between them, watched by a large crowd.
Pelé, right, with US President Bill Clinton in 1997
Mordechai Spiegler, right, pictured in 2008 with broadcaster Yoram Arbel
An out-of-focus portrait shot of a dark-haired man in a lime-green v-neck sweater.
Władysław Żmuda, seen in 2007
A grey-haired man in a black suit and yellow tie looks to his right, a microphone marked "MSG" held to his mouth.
Shep Messing, the Cosmos' goalkeeper from 1973 to 1974, then again from 1976 to 1977 and finally for three games in 1984, reports on a New York Red BullsPhiladelphia Union match in 2010
Name Country Position Years Notes
Laurie Abrahams  England FW 1984–85
 United States FW 1982-84 -
Chris Agoliati  United States MF 1977
Charlie Aitken  Scotland DF 1976–77
 Canada GK 1980–82
Carlos Alberto  Brazil DF 1977–80
1982
Luis Alberto  United States MF 1984–85
Amr Aly  United States FW 1984–85
 United States DF 1974–75
Ron Atanasio  United States FW 1978–79
Garry Ayre  Canada DF 1978–79
Boris Bandov  United States MF 1979–82
 United States DF 1981–82
Franz Beckenbauer  West Germany DF 1977–80
1983
Hubert Birkenmeier  West Germany GK 1979–85
Richard Blackmore  England GK 1972
Vladislav Bogićević  Yugoslavia MF 1978–84
Chico Borja  United States FW 1981–82
1984
Gordon Bradley  United States DF 1971–75 [A]
Jack Brand  Canada GK 1978
David Brcic  United States GK 1977–79
1981–84
Ivan Buljan  Yugoslavia DF 1981–82
Roberto Cabañas  Paraguay FW 1980–84
Omar Caetano  Uruguay MF 1975
Dan Canter  United States DF 1984–85
Antonio Carbognani  Argentina MF 1979
Emanuel Carrette  Brazil FW 1974
Carlos Caszely  Chile FW 1984
 Haiti DF 1971
Giorgio Chinaglia  Italy FW 1976–85
Richard Chinapoo  Trinidad and Tobago DF 1982–83
Chinesinho  Brazil MF 1971
Dave Clements  Northern Ireland MF 1976–77
Elvis Comrie  United States FW 1984–85
Julio Correa  Uruguay MF 1975
Everald Cummings  Trinidad and Tobago MF 1972–73
Oscar Damiani  Italy FW 1984
Rick Davis  United States MF 1978–84
Malcolm Dawes  England DF 1973–74
De  Brazil DF 1975
Roberto De Oliveira  United States FW 1977
Pedro DeBrito  United States MF 1984
Jaime Delgado  Ecuador FW 1971
Ferdinando De Matthaeis  Italy FW 1982
1983–84
Angelo DiBernardo  United States FW 1980–85
Mike Dillon  England DF 1975–77
Vito Dimitrijević  Yugoslavia MF 1977–78
Frank Donlavey  Canada DF 1971
1974
Tony Donlic  United States FW 1975–78
 United States ? 19??-19?? -
Jeff Durgan  United States DF 1980–82
1983–85
Kevin Eagan  United States DF 1979
Keith Eddy  England DF 1976–77
Andranik Eskandarian  Iran DF 1979–85
Gary Etherington  United States FW 1977–79
Drew Ferguson  Canada MF 1984–85
Vidal Fernandez  United States MF 1980
Tony Field  England FW 1976–77
Joey Fink  United States FW 1973–75
 Greece MF 1971
Santiago Formoso  United States/ Spain DF 1978–79
Mike Fox  United States MF 1983–84
Chance Fry  United States FW 1984–85
Luis de la Fuente  Spain DF 1975
Terry Garbett  England MF 1976–79
Darryl Gee  United States FW 1980–84
Gerry Gray  Canada MF 1983–84
Alan Green  United States FW 1983–85
Fred Grgurev  United States FW 1978
Ernie Hannigan  Scotland FW 1971
 Greece FW 1971
 Spain FW 1972
Randy Horton  Bermuda FW 1971–74
Larry Hulcer  United States MF 1980–81
Stephen Hunt  England FW 1977–78
1982
[B]
Paul Hunter  Canada DF 1977
Robert Iarusci  Canada DF 1977–78
1981–83
Godfrey Ingram  England FW 1979 [C]
Harold Jarman  England MF 1974
Josef Jelinek  Czechoslovakia FW 1972–73
 Poland DF 1971–73
Erhardt Kapp  United States DF 1981–83
John Kerr  Canada MF 1972–75
Emmanuel Kofie  Ghana GK 1971–72
Konrad Kornek  Poland GK 1971
Refik Kozić  Yugoslavia DF 1983–84
Kurt Kuykendall  United States GK 1975–76
 Uruguay MF 1975
Roberto Landi  Italy GK 1983
Doc Lawson  United States DF 1984–85
Mark Liveric  United States FW 1974–75
Flemming Lund  Denmark FW 1985
Barry Mahy  United States DF 1971–75
Carmine Marcantonio  Canada MF 1984
Gil Mărdărescu  Romania MF 1975
Manoel Maria  Brazil FW 1975
Marinho  Brazil DF 1979
Juan Carlos Masnik  Uruguay DF 1975
Andy Mate  United States MF 1971
Charlie McCully  United States FW 1971–72
Henry McCully  United States FW 1973
Wes McLeod  Canada MF 1984–85
Robert Meschbach  United States MF 1985
Shep Messing  United States GK 1973–74
1976–77
1984
 West Germany DF 1971
Wilberforce Mfum  Ghana FW 1971–72
Ramón Mifflin  Peru MF 1975–78
 Italy GK 1971
Charlie Mitchell  Scotland DF 1976
 Yugoslavia DF 1971
 Hungary MF 1974
Nelsi Morais  Brazil MF 1975–80
Steve Moyers  United States FW 1982–84
Johan Neeskens  Netherlands MF 1979–84
 West Germany DF 1972
Mickey Niblock  Northern Ireland FW 1973
 Canada FW 1981–82
Sam Nusum  Bermuda GK 1975
Yasin Özdenak  Turkey GK 1977–79 [D]
Alan O'Neill  England GK 1971
Tommy Ord  England FW 1975–76
Oscar  Brazil DF 1980
Andy Papoulias  United States MF 1985
Americo Paredes  Uruguay FW 1975
Andrew Parkinson  United States FW 1984–85
Rudolph Pearce  Jamaica DF 1971
Pelé  Brazil FW 1975–77
 United States DF 1975
 United States MF 1977–78
David Primo  Israel DF 1975
Karim Abdul Razak  Ghana MF 1979–81
Gerry Reardon  Ireland MF 1984
Len Renery  United States DF 1973–74
Bob Rigby  United States GK 1976
Wim Rijsbergen  Netherlands DF 1979–83
Rildo  Brazil DF 1977
 Ecuador MF 1974
Julio César Romero  Paraguay MF 1980–83
Werner Roth  United States DF 1972–79
Karol Rotner  Israel DF 1973
Brian Rowan  Scotland DF 1975–76
Greg Ryan  United States DF 1979
Carlos Scott  United States MF 1974–75
Seninho  Portugal FW 1978–82
Steve Sharp  United States FW 1985
Mordechai Spiegler  Israel FW 1974–77
Jorge Siega  United States FW 1971–76
Bobby Smith  United States DF 1976–78
Jomo Sono  South Africa FW 1977
Scoop Stanisic  United States GK 1984–85
Stan Startzell  United States MF 1972
Jan Steadman  Trinidad and Tobago DF 1971
 United States FW 1977
Siegfried Stritzl  United States MF 1971–73
Jerry Sularz  Poland GK 1973–75
Kazbek Tambi  United States MF 1983–85
Stanisław Terlecki  Poland FW 1983–84
Brian Tinnion  England FW 1976
Jadranko Topić  Yugoslavia FW 1977
Dennis Tueart  England FW 1978–79
Bruce Twamley  Canada DF 1977
François Van der Elst  Belgium FW 1980–81
Tibor Vigh  Canada FW 1973
Geoff Vowden  England FW 1974
 Yugoslavia FW 1983–85
Michael Wardrop  England MF 1974
Steve Wegerle  South Africa FW 1981–82
Bruce Wilson  Canada DF 1980
Giuseppe Wilson  Italy DF 1978–79
Ralph Wright  England DF 1973
Ceyhan Yazar  Turkey FW 1971
 Scotland MF 1971
Roby Young  Israel FW 1972–73
 Poland MF 1972–73
Władysław Żmuda  Poland DF 1984

By nationality[]

Country Number of
players
 Argentina 1
 Belgium 1
 Bermuda 2
 Brazil 10
 Canada 15
 Chile 1
 Czechoslovakia 1
 Denmark 1
 Ecuador 2
 England 17
 West Germany 4
 Ghana 3
 Greece 2
 Haiti 1
 Hungary 1
 Iran 1
 Ireland 1
 Israel 4
 Italy 6
 Jamaica 1
 Netherlands 2
 Northern Ireland 2
 Paraguay 2
 Peru 1
 Poland 6
 Portugal 1
 Romania 1
 Scotland 5
 South Africa 2
 Spain 2
 Trinidad and Tobago 3
 Turkey 2
 United States 56
 Uruguay 5
 Yugoslavia 7

Guest players[]

Some well-known players from other teams turned out for the Cosmos in exhibition matches on a game-by-game basis when New York traveled on overseas tours. These guest players are listed below, along with the year they appeared in Cosmos colors.

Name Country Position Year Notes
John Coyne  England FW 1975
Gordon Banks  England GK 1976
Clyde Best  Bermuda FW 1976
Clodoaldo  Brazil MF 1977
Roberto Rivelino  Brazil MF 1978
Andranik Eskandarian  Iran DF 1978 [E]
Alan Willey  England FW 1978
Stewart Jump  England DF 1978
Joe Horváth  Hungary MF 1978
 Hungary DF 1978
Arsène Auguste  Haiti DF 1978
Johan Cruyff  Netherlands MF 1978

Footnotes[]

A. ^ Bradley held the position of player-coach.
B. ^ Hunt's 1982 spell was on loan from Coventry City (England).
C. ^ Ingram played for the Cosmos on loan from Luton Town (England).
D. ^ Yasin Özdenak played in the United States under the name Erol Yasin, and is generally referred to as such in NASL records.[7]
E. ^ Although Eskandarian signed permanently for the Cosmos in 1979, he is counted as a guest player for 1978, and so appears on both lists.

References[]

Bibliography
  • Jose, Colin (2003). North American Soccer League Encyclopedia. Haworth, New Jersey: St. Johann Press. ISBN 1-878282-25-5.
  • Newsham, Gavin (2006). Once in a Lifetime: The Incredible Story of the New York Cosmos. New York, New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-4288-5.
  • Toye, Clive (2006). A Kick in the Grass. Haworth, New Jersey: St Johann Press. ISBN 978-1-878282-47-7.
General
  • Players sourced to: Jose (2003).
  • Background sourced to: Jose (2003), Newsham (2006) and Toye (2006).
Notes
  1. ^ Bell, Jack (2008-05-01). "Gordon Bradley, Who Nurtured U.S. Soccer, Dies at 74". The New York Times. New York, New York. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  2. ^ Newsham, Gavin (2005-06-10). "When Pele and Cosmos were kings". The Guardian. London: Guardian News & Media. Retrieved 2011-01-20. Owned by Warner Communications, the New York Cosmos were, like many other franchises, a team going nowhere fast. A ragbag assembly of students, foreigners and part-timers, they played their football at a high school athletics ground in front of row after row of empty seats. Nobody knew about them, let alone cared. ... On the road the Cosmos sold out every game ("like travelling with the Rolling Stones," says the club's travelling secretary Steve Marshall). In New York they were media darlings, idols of 77,000 fans (including Mick Jagger, Henry Kissinger, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg) and virtual residents at Studio 54. In two years, they became an organisation with the cultural visibility no other arm of the Warner portfolio could boast. It mattered not that the club did not make a single cent in their 15-year history. The Cosmos had become the hottest ticket in town; Ross even had a seat belt installed in his spot in the upper tier, just in case he got overexcited and toppled over the edge.
  3. ^ Lindgren, Hugo (2006-06-25). "Pinup Goalie: Shep Messing". New York Movies. New York, New York: New York Media LLC. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  4. ^ Ogden, Mark (2011-01-19). "Eric Cantona's appointment at the New York Cosmos part of battle to restore football to heart of the Big Apple". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
  5. ^ O'Brien, Seamus (2012-07-12). "New York Cosmos Returns to NASL". nycosmos.com. New York City: New York Cosmos. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  6. ^ O'Mard, Marcus Kwesi (2012-07-12). "Report: New York Cosmos Plan to Make NASL Return in 2013". Watertown, Massachusetts: New England Sports Network. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  7. ^ Litterer, David. "The Year in American Soccer - 1977". American Soccer History Archives. Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
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