Chicago Croatian was an American Soccer Club based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The club competed professionally in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (National Challenge Cup), the CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup) and the National Soccer League (Chicago). All their home matches were played in Hanson Stadium and Winemac Stadium in Chicago. The club was founded in the 1950s and is historically the most successful Croatian soccer club in the USA. The height of the Croatians success came in the 1970s and 1980s, when the team reached the final of the prestigious Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (National Challenge Cup) in 1974, 1979 and 1984. They qualified for the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

in 1975 and 1980 but withdrew from the competition. They participated in the 1985 CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup) and were knocked out of the competition in the 1st round by

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

champions Club Deportivo Olimpia. Both legs of the match where played in Honduras: the 1st leg was played in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 ...

and the 2nd leg in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

; the attendance was over 40,000 spectators for each match.

Honors

* Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (National Challenge Cup) *''Finalists'' (3): 1974,1979,1984 *''Semi-finalist'' : 1985 * National Soccer League (Chicago) *''Champions'' (2):1971,1973 : No records kept 1974 thru 1986 *

Peel Cup The Peter J. Peel Challenge Cup, better known as the Peel Cup, was an open soccer competition that crowned the Illinois state champion until it was replaced by the Illinois Governor’s Cup in 1971. History Origins Peter Peel was born in 1866 in ...

Illinois State Cup *''Champions'' (4): 1973,1976,1978,1986 *

Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament The Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament is a soccer tournament established in 1964 featuring teams representing the Croatian Canadian and Croatian American communities. It is organized by the Croatian National Soccer Federation, Croatian Natio ...

*''Champions'' (6): 1968,1975,1976,1977,1979,1986 * CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup) : Participated in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

(Also qualified 1975,1980, but withdrew from competition) *'' 1985 1st round'' Honduras Central America

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Results

* June 2, 1974 New York Greek American 2 Chicago Croatian 0 * June 17, 1979 Brooklyn Dodgers 2 Chicago Croatian 1 * June 24, 1984 New York Crete 4 Chicago Croatian 2
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CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup) 1985

Roster

Managers

* Joe Tadijanovic * Frank Basan

References

Croatian-American culture in Illinois Soccer clubs in Chicago National Soccer League (Chicago) teams U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup Association football clubs established in 1949 Association football clubs disestablished in 1990 {{Illinois-footyclub-stub