Brooklyn Italians is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, United States. Founded in 1949, the team last played in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

(NPSL), a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northeast Atlantic Division during its 2019 season. The team plays its home games at the stadium on the campus of

John Dewey High School John Dewey High School is a public school in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded and based on the educational principles of John Dewey. The school, under the supervision of the New York City Department of Education, was named a Ne ...

. The team's colors are white and blue.

History

The Brooklyn Italians are generally regarded as one of the most successful semi-pro teams in the United States, with a linear history that now stretches back over 60 years. Founded in 1949 by John DeVivo, an Italian immigrant to the New York area, the team was originally part of the Metropolitan Soccer League in the early 1950s, before joining the American Soccer League prior to the 1956–57 season. The Italians finished seventh in their first season in the ASL behind champions

New York Hakoah New York Hakoah is an American soccer club based in New York City, which takes its name from two earlier, defunct clubs. ''Hakoah'' (roughly translated as "strength" from Hebrew) is a frequent name for sport and social Jewish clubs around the wor ...

. The Italians changed their name to the Inter-Brooklyn Italians when they merged with a local rival club in 1961, became Inter SC in 1962, and before the 1963 season the team changed its name again and became Boca Juniors, named after the famous club in Argentina, but played just one season with this name before resigning from the ASL in 1964. For the next 20 years or so the team continued to play in amateur leagues under various names – at one time or another were they known as Palermo Football Club and the Brooklyn Dodgers (after the former Brooklyn baseball team) – before reverting to their original name in 1991. They were also regular participants in the U.S. Open Cup, winning the title twice during the pre-MLS all-amateur era, in 1979 (when they were still called the Dodgers) and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, and reaching the final in 1981 and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. As a result of their success in the 1990 tournament, the Italians played in the qualifying rounds of the 1991 CONCACAF Champions' Cup. In April 1991, they beat Bermudian side Dandy Town Hornets 4–3 on aggregate; they withdrew before the second round of the tournament. In November 1991 they lost 6–1 on aggregate to

Club Universidad de Guadalajara Club Leones Negros de la Universidad de Guadalajara, also known as Leones Negros, Leones Negros UdeG, Universidad de Guadalajara, or UdeG, is a football club that currently plays in the Liga de Expansión MX. History The Universidad de Guadal ...

in the first round of the

1991 CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup The 1991 CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup The CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup was an international association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily ...

. The Italians joined the

in 2010, with head coach Joe Barone calling it "a new adventure".Brooklyn Italians try their hand, feet at NPSL
In addition to the new NPSL side, the Italians continue to field a number of teams in the New York-based

Cosmopolitan Soccer League The Cosmopolitan Soccer League is a regional soccer league consisting of semi-pro and amateur teams based in and around New York City. Established in 1923, it is one of the oldest soccer leagues in the United States and has contributed greatly ...

. The Italians also regularly compete in various amateur tournaments world-wide, including the Memorial Claudio Sassi in Italy, the Dallas Cup, the President's Day Tournament in Phoenix, and college showcases across the country. International travel is encouraged, and teams have trained with many of the elite teams from Italy. In 2020, the team was not listed among the clubs taking part in the 2020 NPSL season. On May 5, 2021, the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

announced the Italians as an official Academy Affiliate.

Year-by-year

Team names

* Brooklyn Italians (1949–1961) * Inter-Brooklyn Italians (1961–1962) * Inter SC (1962–1963) * Boca Juniors (1963–1964) * Brooklyn Dodgers / Palermo Football Club (varying names) (1964–1991) * Brooklyn Italians (1991–present)

Honors

* U.S. Open Cup: ** Champions: 1979,

** Runners-up: 1981,

* American Soccer League: ** Runners-up: 1961–62, 1962–63 * North Eastern Super Soccer League: ** Champions: 1990 ** Runners-up: 1991 *

: ** League Champions: 1976–1977, 1977–1978, 1980–1981, 1983–1984, 2005–2006, 2006–2007 ** Indoor Tournament Champions: 1977, 1984, 1985 *

Atlantic Division: ** Champions:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

**Participation in CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 1980,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

**Participation in

CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup The CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup was an international association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball ...

Head coaches

* Mike Ryback (1989–1991) * Gilbert Godoy (1991–1992) * Joe Barone (2009–2010) * Tony Noto (2010–2011) *

Lucio Russo Lucio Russo (born 22 November 1944) is an Italian physicist, mathematician and historian of science. Born in Venice, he teaches at the Mathematics Department of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Among his main areas of interest are Gibbs mea ...

(2011–2017) * Dominic Casciato (2017–Present)

Stadium

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

;

(1989–1992) * Dreier Offermann Park;

(2009) *

;

(2010–present)

References

External links

Official Site
{{American Soccer League Men's soccer clubs in New York (state) Cosmopolitan Soccer League American Soccer League (1933–1983) teams National Premier Soccer League teams 1949 establishments in New York City Italian-American culture in New York City Sports in Brooklyn Soccer clubs in New York City Association football clubs established in 1949 Diaspora soccer clubs in the United States Italian association football clubs outside Italy U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Cup Winners' Cup U.S. Open Cup winners