Competitive men's professional
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 ...
has been played in the United States since 1912 and since 2001 for women's. Numerous leagues have existed over the years with some recognized by the
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
and some not. The lists below are the single game attendance records for men's
outdoor (60,000+), men's
indoor
Indoor(s) may refer to:
*the interior of a building
*Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality
*Built envi ...
(18,000+), and women's outdoor (18,000+) matches in American club soccer.
Men's soccer
MLS attendance
This list includes matches in which at least one
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
team has participated. This list does not include several matches played in the U.S. between two clubs not based in the United States (e.g. Chelsea vs. A.C. Milan in the
2009 World Football Challenge).
International doubleheaders
The following are MLS league matches that were part of a double-header involving international teams.
NASL attendance
This list includes matches in which at least one team from the
North American Soccer League (1968–84) The North American Soccer League may refer to:
*North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
*North American Soccer League (2011–2017)
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
has participated.
''*Cosmos dropped "New York" from name in 1977 and 1978 seasons''
Indoor soccer
This list refers to
indoor soccer
Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...
matches, not to
regulation soccer matches played in indoor stadiums.
Nearly all of the most attended indoor matches occurred during the 1980s in the
Major Indoor Soccer League. The majority of these were hosted by the
St. Louis Steamers during the early 1980s, or by the
Cleveland Force during the mid 1980s.
Women's soccer
WUSA, WPS, NWSL attendance
These lists include the top-attended league matches from
WUSA (2001–2003),
WPS (2009–2011), and
NWSL
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
(2013–present), split into standalone matches and matches that were doubleheaders with MLS teams.
Standalone matches
The
Washington Freedom
Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...
of WUSA hold the overall attendance record.
Portland Thorns FC
The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...
held the top six NWSL attendance records until the debut home game of the
Orlando Pride
The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to the l ...
in 2016, which set the new NWSL record; that record was eclipsed by the Thorns in 2019 and still later by
San Diego Wave FC
San Diego Wave FC is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in San Diego, San Diego, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle.
The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soc ...
in its debut at the new
Snapdragon Stadium
Snapdragon Stadium, known during its planning and early construction phases as Aztec Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. It is loc ...
in 2022. The Thorns consistently draw over 14,000 fans and averaged slightly over 20,000 in the
2019 season, the last before
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
effects; until that season they were the only NWSL team to have drawn over 10,000 fans more than thrice – continued strong numbers from
Utah Royals FC
Utah Royals FC was an American women's professional soccer club based in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah. Established on November 16, 2017, as an expansion club, the Royals played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) from 2018 ...
and a club-record post-
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
standalone match from the
Chicago Red Stars
The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...
pushed both clubs to their fourth 10,000-plus attendances.
The 2022 NWSL season, the first season since 2019 that was (relatively) unaffected by COVID-19, not only saw a new league single-game attendance record, but was also marked by very strong attendance for the debuting
Angel City FC
Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...
, which sold out its stadium four times in its first regular season and drew over 18,000 for two other home matches. Angel City was also Wave FC's opponent for the latter side's record-setting game.
MLS doubleheaders
Doubleheaders make up the majority of attendance records above 12,000 fans when discounting the Portland Thorns and Angel City FC.
WUSA attendances:
WUSA doubleheader listing:
Foreign clubs attendance
The following table shows record attendances for club soccer matches played in the U.S. where neither team was from a U.S. based league.
See also
*
Major League Soccer attendance
Major League Soccer is the premier professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Competition began in 1996 and attendance has grown rapidly since the early 2000s, making it one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in the world. Th ...
*
National Women's Soccer League attendance The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is the top-tier professional women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2013, the 2019 season, the last before COVID-19, saw an average 7,337 spectators among the 9 teams, the highest ...
*
Soccer in the United States
Soccer in the United States is run by different organizations. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) governs most levels of soccer in the country, including the national teams, professional leagues, and amateur leagues, being the highest ...
*
List of soccer clubs in the United States
This is a list of association football, soccer clubs in the United States. For clarity, teams based outside the United States that play in United States Soccer Federation, USSF-recognized leagues are also listed below, with their home country not ...
*
List of soccer stadiums in the United States
The following is a partial list of soccer stadiums in the United States. It includes all stadiums in the top three levels of American soccer and some lower league and collegiate stadiums in the United States. The minimum capacity is 1,000.
S ...
References
{{North America in topic, Association football in
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Soccer records and statistics in the United States
American soccer clubs records and statistics