Soccer in Los Angeles

Soccer has been very popular in Los Angeles for a long time. As of 2023, Los Angeles County has three top-level professional teams. The LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC play in Major League Soccer, and Angel City FC plays in the National Women's Soccer League.

The Greater Los Angeles area also has other teams, like Orange County SC in the USL Championship, and several teams in lower divisions. There are also many smaller clubs and leagues where players can enjoy the game. In 2019, two more teams tried to join a new league, but they later moved to other leagues.

History

Soccer in Los Angeles started in the 1900s when a league called the Southern California Football League was created in 1902.

Some important teams from the past include the Los Angeles Wolves, who were the first and only champions of the United Soccer Association in 1967. The Los Angeles Kickers were the first team from the area to win the National Challenge Cup, now called the U.S. Open Cup. Maccabi Los Angeles won the U.S. Open Cup five times. The Los Angeles Aztecs won the NASL National Championship in 1974 in their first season and played in big stadiums like the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before stopping in 1981. Chivas USA was a team that played from 2005 until 2014.

Year	League	W	L	T	Pts	Reg. season	Playoffs	Avg. attendance
1967	USA	5	5	2	15	1st, Western Division	Champions	7,777
1968	NASL	11	8	13	139	3rd, Pacific Division	did not qualify	2,441

Season	Division	Position	League Record							Playoffs	Top scorer
			P	W	L	D	F	A	Pts		Name	Goals
1974	Western	1st	20	11	2	7	41	36	110	Champions	Doug McMillan	10
1975	Western	3rd	20	11	2	7	40	41	36	Conference Quarterfinals	Uri Banhoffer	14
1976	Southern	3rd	44	25	6	14	89	41	15	First round	George Best	15
1977	Southern	2nd	26	14	12	0	37	44	37	Conference Final	George Best	14
1978	Western	4th	30	21	9	0	63	69	36	did not qualify	Jim Rolland	17
1979	Western	2nd	30	18	12	0	54	62	47	Conference Semifinal	Johan Cruyff	13
1980	Western	2nd	32	20	12	0	60	61	52	Conference Final	Luis Fernando	28
1981	Western	2nd	32	20	12	0	60	61	52	First round	Chris Dangerfield	35

Year	League	W	L	Pts	Regular season	Playoffs	Avg. Attend.
1978	NASL	13	17	115	2nd, American Conference, Western Division	Lost 1st Round (San Diego)	11,171
1979	NASL	15	15	140	1st(t), American Conference, Western Division	Lost 1st Round (San Diego)	10,330
1980	NASL	15	17	144	2nd, American Conference, Western Division	Lost 1st Round (Ft. Lauderdale)	7,593
1981	NASL	11	21	117	3rd, Western Division	did not qualify	8,299

Season	Conf	Pos	League Record							Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	CONCACAF Champions League	Top scorer
			Plyd	Won	Lost	Drew	F	A	Pts				Name	Goals
2005	West	6th	32	4	22	6	31	67	18	Did not qualify	Fourth round	Did not qualify	Héctor Cuadros	4
2006	West	3rd	32	10	9	13	45	42	43	Conference Semifinal	Third round	Did not qualify	Ante Razov	14
2007	West	1st	30	15	7	8	46	28	53	Conference Semifinal	Third round	Did not qualify	Maykel Galindo	12
2008	West	2nd	30	12	11	7	40	41	43	Conference Semifinal	Third round	Preliminary round	Alecko Eskandarian Ante Razov Sacha Kljestan	5
2009	West	4th	30	13	11	6	34	31	45	Conference Semifinal	Third round	Did not qualify	Eduardo Lillingston	8
2010	West	8th	30	8	18	4	31	45	28	Did not qualify	Semifinal	Did not qualify	Justin Braun	9
2011	West	8th	34	8	14	12	41	43	36	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Justin Braun Nick LaBrocca	9
2012	West	9th	34	7	18	9	24	58	30	Did not qualify	Semifinal	Did not qualify	Juan Pablo Ángel	4
2013	West	9th	34	6	20	8	30	67	26	Did not qualify	Fourth round	Did not qualify	Erick Torres	7
2014	West	7th	34	9	16	6	29	61	33	Did not qualify	Fourth round	Did not qualify	Erick Torres	15

Professional clubs, modern era

LA Galaxy (MLS) (1996–present)

Main article: LA Galaxy

When Major League Soccer started in 1996, the Los Angeles Galaxy was one of the first teams. LA Soccer Partners started the team, and now Anschutz Entertainment Group owns it. The Galaxy won a big tournament called the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2000.

Los Angeles FC (MLS) (2018–present)

Main article: Los Angeles FC

Angel City FC (NWSL, 2022–present)

Main article: Angel City FC

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
Major League Soccer (2)
LA Galaxy	Dignity Health Sports Park	27,000	1994
Los Angeles FC	BMO Stadium	22,000	2014

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
National Women's Soccer League (1)
Angel City FC	BMO Stadium	22,000	2020

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
USL Championship (2)
Ventura County FC	Dignity Health Sports Park	5,000	2015
Orange County SC	Championship Stadium	5,000	2016

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Founded
National Independent Soccer Association
California United Strikers FC	Championship Soccer Stadium	5,000	2017
Los Angeles Force	Rio Hondo Stadium	1,000	2019

Season	Conf	Pos	League Record							Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	CONCACAF Champions League	Top scorer
			Plyd	Won	Lost	Drew	F	A	Pts				Name	Goals
1996	West	1st	32	19	13	0	59	49	49	Final	Did not enter	Did not qualify	Eduardo Hurtado	21
1997	West	2nd	32	16	16	0	55	44	44	Conference Semifinal	Did not enter	Final	Welton	11
1998	West	1st	32	24	8	0	85	44	68	Conference Semifinal	Did not enter	Did not enter	Cobi Jones	19
1999	West	1st	32	20	12	0	49	29	54	Final	Quarterfinal	Did not qualify	Cobi Jones Carlos Hermosillo	8
2000	West	2nd	32	14	10	8	47	37	50	Semifinal	Semifinal	Champions	Cobi Jones	7
2001	West	1st	26	14	7	5	52	36	47	Final	Champions	Not Held	Luis Hernández	8
2002	West	1st	28	16	9	3	44	33	51	Champions	Final	Did not qualify	Carlos Ruiz	24
2003	West	4th	30	9	12	9	35	35	36	Conference Semifinal	Semifinal	Quarterfinal	Carlos Ruiz	15
2004	West	2nd	30	11	9	10	42	40	43	Conference Semifinal	Fourth round	Did not qualify	Carlos Ruiz	11
2005	West	4th	32	13	13	6	44	45	45	Champions	Champions	Did not qualify	Landon Donovan	12
2006	West	5th	32	11	15	6	37	37	39	Did not qualify	Final	Quarterfinal	Landon Donovan	12
2007	West	5th	30	9	14	7	38	48	34	Did not qualify	Third round	Did not qualify	Landon Donovan	8
2008	West	6th	30	8	13	9	55	62	33	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Landon Donovan	20
2009	West	1st	30	12	6	12	36	31	48	Final	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Landon Donovan	12
2010	West	1st	30	18	7	5	44	26	59	Conference Final	Quarterfinal	Preliminary round	Edson Buddle	19
2011	West	1st	34	19	5	10	48	28	67	Champions	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	Landon Donovan	12
2012	West	4th	34	16	12	6	59	47	54	Champions	Third round	Semifinal	Robbie Keane	16
2013	West	3rd	34	15	11	8	53	38	53	Conference Semifinal	Third round	Quarterfinal	Robbie Keane	16
2014	West	2nd	34	17	7	10	69	37	61	Champions	Fifth round	Did not qualify	Robbie Keane	19
2015	West	5th	34	14	11	9	56	46	51	Knockout round	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	Robbie Keane	20
2016	West	3rd	34	12	6	16	54	39	52	Conference Semifinal	Semifinal	Did not qualify	Giovani dos Santos	14
2017	West	11th	34	8	18	8	45	67	32	Did not qualify	Quarterfinal	Did not qualify	Romain Alessandrini	13
2018	West	7th	34	13	12	9	66	64	48	Did not qualify	Round of 16	Did not qualify	Zlatan Ibrahimović	22
2019	West	5th	34	16	15	3	56	55	51	Conference Semifinal	Round of 16	Did not qualify	Zlatan Ibrahimović	30
2020	West	10th	22	6	12	4	27	46	22	Did not qualify	Cancaled	Did not qualify	Cristian Pavón	10
2021	West	8th	34	13	12	9	50	54	48	Did not qualify	Cancaled	Did not qualify	Chicharito	17
2022	West	4th	34	14	12	8	58	51	50	Conference Semifinals	Quarter-final	Did not qualify	Chicharito	17
2023	West	13th	34	8	14	12	51	67	36	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Did not qualify	Tyler Boyd Ricard Puig	7

Season	Conf	Pos	League Record							Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	CONCACAF Champions League	Top scorer
			Plyd	Won	Lost	Drew	F	A	Pts				Name	Goals
2018	West	3rd	34	16	9	9	68	52	57	Knockout round	Semifinal	Did not qualify	Carlos Vela	14
2019	West	1st	34	21	4	9	85	37	72	Conference Final	Quarterfinal	Did not qualify	Carlos Vela	34
2020	West	7th	22	9	8	5	47	39	32	First Round	Canceled	Runner-up	Diego Rossi	14
2021	West	9th	34	12	13	9	53	51	45	Did Not Qualify	Canceled	N/A	Cristian Arango	14
2022	West	1st	34	21	9	4	66	38	67	Champions	Round of 16	N/A	Cristian Arango	16
2023	West	3rd	34	14	10	10	54	39	52	Runners-up	Round of 16	Runners-up	Denis Bouanga	20

Season	Pos	League Record							Playoffs	Challenge Cup	Top scorer
		Plyd	Won	Lost	Drew	F	A	Pts			Name	Goals
2022	8th	22	8	9	5	23	27	29	Did not qualify	4th, West Division	Savannah McCaskill	6
2023	5th	22	8	7	7	31	30	31	First Round	2nd, West Division	Savannah McCaskill	6

Los Angeles derbies

LA Galaxy vs Chivas USA (2008–2014)

Main article: SuperClasico

The competition between these two teams ended in 2014 when Chivas USA stopped playing.

LA Galaxy vs Los Angeles FC (2018–present)

Main article: El Tráfico

Los Angeles FC started playing in 2018, creating a new rivalry called El Tráfico.

Amateur and Semi-professional

Los Angeles has many amateur and semi-professional soccer teams that play in different leagues. Some of these leagues include the National Premier Soccer League, the United Premier Soccer League, and USL League Two.

There are several clubs in the area, such as California United FC II (UPSL), Cal FC (UPSL), Club Xolos USA U-23 (NPSL), FC Golden State Force (NPSL/USL2), FC Santa Clarita (UPSL), La Máquina FC (UPSL), L.A. Wolves FC (UPSL), Orange County FC (NPSL/UPSL), Oxnard Guerreros FC (NPSL), San Nicolás FC (US Premiership), Santa Ana Winds FC (UPSL), Temecula FC (NPSL), and Ventura County Fusion (USL2). These teams offer many opportunities for local players to enjoy soccer at different levels.

Most successful clubs overall

Teams shown in bold are still playing today.

Team	D1 Regular season	U.S. Open Cup	D1 Playoffs	CONCACAF Champions League	Total
LA Galaxy	4	2	6	1	13
Los Angeles FC	2	1	1	0	4
Los Angeles Aztecs	1	0	1	0	2
Los Angeles Wolves	0	0	1	0	1
California Surf	0	0	0	0	0
Chivas USA	0	0	0	0	0

Stadiums

Rose Bowl: This stadium hosted the big final game of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Dignity Health Sports Park: It was the second sports arena in America made just for soccer. It was home to the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA in the past.
BMO Stadium (formerly Banc of California Stadium): This is where Los Angeles FC plays. It opened in 2018 and will also be where Angel City FC plays when their team starts.
Santa Ana Stadium: This stadium has hosted many exciting soccer games. In 1966, the Orange County Soccer Club played against Bayern Munich here.

Women's soccer

In 2009, Los Angeles got a new top-level women's soccer team called the Los Angeles Sol. This team was part of a league called Women's Professional Soccer. They played at Dignity Health Sports Park but stopped playing in 2010.

Later, in 2020, a new team was announced and named Angel City FC. This team planned to start playing in 2022 at Banc of California Stadium.

Indoor soccer

Los Angeles has had three indoor soccer teams in the past. The Los Angeles Aztecs played in 1975 and from 1979 to 1981. The Los Angeles Lazers played from 1982 to 1989. Lastly, the Los Angeles United played for one season in 1994 before moving to Anaheim. Right now, the area does not have any indoor soccer teams.