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.

• Brandi Chastain
• Clive Toye
• Pelé
• George Best
• Johan Cruijff
• Giorgio Chinaglia
• Franz Beckenbauer
• Cobi Jones