Maccabee Athletic Club ( he, מכבי לוס אנג'לס, MAH-KAH-Bee) was an American athletic club based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The primary activity of the club was Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club, a team which competed professionally in the

Greater Los Angeles Soccer League The Los Angeles Soccer League was a regional association football, soccer league consisting of clubs based in and around Los Angeles. Established as the California Football Association, the league was founded in 1902 and it is one of the oldest s ...

and the CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup). The soccer club is notable for appearing in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (National Challenge Cup) final seven times in its eleven-year history, becoming one of only two teams to win the competition five times.The other team to win five U.S. Open Cups was Bethlehem Steel F.C.

History

Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club was formed by a group of

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

expatriates to serve as a recreational Sunday soccer team. The team began playing competitively in 1971 as part of the

, with the addition of former Israeli national team players who had recently immigrated to the

Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

. While the club used the

Star of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...

and other Jewish symbols, the players came from various countries and many of them were not Jewish. They won the Triple Crown (Association Football) twice in 1977 and 1978 by winning the

, California State Cup and the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

. They participated in the

CONCACAF Champions Cup 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 Americ ...

in 1978 but did not advance from the first round. Maccabee Los Angeles played Bridgeport Vasco da Gama from Connecticut in the 1978 US Open Cup winning the final at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

. The match was part of a double header with the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

and the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

of the

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in front of 30,000 fans. Maccabee Los Angeles ceased operations after the 1982 season but Maccabee Athletic Club is still in existence for youth players.

Honors

* Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (National Challenge Cup) *Winner (5): 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981 *Finalist (2): 1980, 1982 *

Triple Crown Winners Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

: (2): 1977, 1978 *

*Winner (7): 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982 *

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

(Did not advance).

Past rosters

US Open Cup 1973

US Open Cup 1975

US Open Cup 1977

US Open Cup 1978

US Open Cup 1980

US Open Cup 1981

US Open Cup 1982

US Open Cup results

*1973 Maccabee Los Angeles 5 vs Cleveland Inter Italian 3 *1975 Maccabee Los Angeles 1 vs New York Inter Giuliana 0 *1977 Maccabee Los Angeles 5 vs Philadelphia German-Hungarians 1 *1978 Maccabee Los Angeles 2 vs Bridgeport Vasco da Gama 0 (OT) *1980 New York Pancyprian-Freedoms 3 vs Maccabee Los Angeles 2 *1981 Maccabee Los Angeles 5 vs Brooklyn Dodgers 1 *1982 New York Pancyprian-Freedoms 4 vs Maccabee Los Angeles 3 (OT)

References

Maccabee Los Angeles Maccabee Athletic Club ( he, מכבי לוס אנג'לס, MAH-KAH-Bee) was an American athletic club based in Los Angeles, California. The primary activity of the club was Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club, a team which competed professionally in t ...

Jewish organizations based in the United States Soccer clubs in Los Angeles

1971 establishments in California 1982 disestablishments in California Association football clubs established in 1971 Association football clubs disestablished in 1982 Diaspora soccer clubs in the United States U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup U.S. Open Cup winners {{LosAngeles-sport-stub