NY Greek American Atlas Astoria, commonly known as New York Greek American, 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 from

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 ...

that currently plays in the

Eastern Premier Soccer League The Eastern Premier Soccer League (EPSL) is a United States Adult Soccer Association and a National Independent Soccer Association affiliated Amateur Elite League that includes teams from the Eastern United States. Currently the league has members ...

and in the

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 club was formed in 1946 by Thomas Laris and is one of the most successful clubs in America's annual national soccer tournament, 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 ...

, winning four times, in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1974. The team is one of the oldest American soccer clubs in existence and plays its games at the

Metropolitan Oval The Metropolitan Oval, also known as Met Oval, is a soccer complex located in Maspeth, Queens in New York City. ''Village Voice'' named the complex, which takes up , the "Best full soccer field in the middle of a residential neighborhood" in ...

Maspeth, Queens Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside ...

History

Greek American Atlas Astoria, formally New York Greek American Atlas Astoria Soccer Club, was formed in 1941. The club was founded by

Greek-American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...

Tom Laris Thomas Constantine Laris (born June 26, 1940, in New York City, New York) is an American long-distance runner who competed in the 10,000 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He finished in 16th place. He had previously won a bronze medal i ...

and would go on to become one of the most successful and longest continually operating teams in American soccer history. The club has a long-standing rivalry with New York's

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

team and fellow multiple National Cup champion, the Pancyprian Freedoms. The team currently plays in the 5th tier of the

American soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

, under the

USASA The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as national, regional and state leagues. The National Premier Soccer League, NISA ...

in the

. The club plays out of the

and has been a perennial contender in the league, winning five of eleven Eastern New York Championships between 2001 and 2012.

National Cup success

The Greek Americans have won America's nationwide domestic soccer tournament, the

Lamar Hunt 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 ...

, formerly the ''National Challenge Cup'', four times in its history, from 1967 to 1969 and in 1974. The club is one of only two teams, alongside the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

, to have won the annual tournament on three consecutive occasions. While the club had not qualified for the Open Cup since 2005, it returned to the tournament in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

but lost in the first round to

Reading United Reading United AC is an American soccer team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1995, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays its home games at Don Thomas Stadium on the campus of ...

of the USL's

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

(PDL), by a score of 2–1. The Greeks won re-entry to the Open Cup again in 2014 thanks to their USASA Amateur Cup regional championship, being seeded in the second round. They won their first game against PDL opponents,

Ocean City Nor'easters Ocean City Nor'easters is an American soccer team based in Ocean City, New Jersey. Founded in 1996, the team currently plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays their home games at Carey Stadium wh ...

, 2–0. before falling to

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

in the 3rd round. In 2014, after appearing in three consecutive

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...

finals, Atlas would finally lift the trophy for the first time in their history after defeating Guadalajara FC 4–2 in the final.

Honors

*National Challenge Cup winners: 4 :: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974 *National Challenge Cup runners-up: 1 :: 1989 *US National Cup Champions: 1 :: 2013–14 *

Champions: 5 :: 2004–05, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2016-17 *Participations in

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 Ameri ...

(4):

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

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 ...

*Participations in

CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup The CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup was an international association football club competition held from 1991 to 1998. The cup was between the winners of their nation's domestic cup competitions, which posed a problem as some participating countries did ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(withdrew)

U.S. Open Cup finals

*1967: Greek American Atlas Astoria -

Orange County Soccer Club Orange County Soccer Club was a Greater Los Angeles team active in the mid 1960s in a league called the Continental League. One of the highlights of its existence included an international match with Bayern Munich of Germany played on June 10, 1 ...

4-2 (John Kosmides 2, Denis Nanos, Peter Tsalouhidis - George Rabus, Larry Radulski), Stadium: Eintracht Oval, Astoria, Queens, Att: 2,500 *1968: Greek American Atlas Astoria - Chicago Olympic 1-1 (Denis Nanos 48΄, Alex Naltanis 89΄) & 1-0 (Bob Hatzos 50΄), Stadiums: Hanson Stadium, Chicago and Eintracht Oval, Astoria, Queens *1969: Greek American Atlas Astoria - Montabello Armenians 1-0, in Los Angeles *1974: Greek American Atlas Astoria -

Chicago Croatian Chicago Croatian was an American Soccer Club based in Chicago, Illinois. 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 Leag ...

2-0, Stadium: Eintracht Oval, Astoria, Queens *1989: St. Petersburg Kickers - Greek American Atlas Astoria 2-1 (

Garth Pollonais Garth Pollonais is a retired Trinidad and Tobago football (soccer) forward who played professionally in both Trinidad and the United States. Early career Pollonais grew up in Trinidad. He attended St. Augustine Senior Secondary High School wher ...

46΄, Gordon Singleton 119΄-

John Lignos John Lignos (born in Chios, Greece) was a U.S. soccer player who spent four seasons in the North American Soccer League, one in the American Soccer League and one in the United Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team ...

80΄), Stadium:

World Wide Technology Soccer Park World Wide Technology Soccer Park is a soccer complex which includes four soccer-specific stadiums, with the main field, West Community Stadium, holding 5,500 seats. Located in Fenton, Missouri, a suburb southwest of downtown St. Louis, it is oper ...

, St.Louis, Att: 6,200

References

{{USSoccer Men's soccer clubs in New York (state) Cosmopolitan Soccer League German-American Soccer League 1946 establishments in New York City Greek-American culture in New York City Association football clubs established in 1946 Diaspora soccer clubs in the United States U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Cup Winners' Cup U.S. Open Cup winners