The Pittsburgh Phantoms were a professional soccer team based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

in 1967. The club was one of the ten charter members of the non- FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). All of the team's home games were played at

Forbes Field Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers ...

, which also served as the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team folded at the conclusion of the 1967 NPSL season.

History

In 1966 several groups of entrepreneurs were exploring the idea of forming a professional soccer league in United States. Two of these groups merged to form the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and franchise rights were awarded to ten ownership groups, with one given to a group of

Penguins Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

investors with

Peter Block Peter Block (born 1939) is an American author, consultant, and speaker in the areas of organization development, community building, and civic engagement. He was born to Jewish parents, Ira and Dorothy Block. He currently resides with his wife, ...

acting as owner and president. In November 1966, Herbert "Bavarian Fats" Vogt, was introduced as the team's head coach and general manager, having signed a two year contract. At his first press conference he gave the first public announcement that the team would be named the "Pittsburgh Phantoms". However two months later, Vogt resigned from his position with the team with the team citing ill health. Vogt later stated that he did he was in excellent health and in a letter to the team claim that in addition to being squeezed out of the job, personnel director Raymond Schwab was not signing "first class players". In March 1967 it was announced that Schwab was leaving his position and was replaced by Ted DeGroot. János Bédl became the Phantom's second coach, but was fired on 1 May 1967 after just four games and the team in first place in the Eastern Division. Bédl sued the team and eventually settled out of court for $32,500.

Co Prins Jacobus Theodorus Wilhelmus "Co" Prins (5 June 1938 – 26 September 1987) was a Dutch former association football player. He played 184 matches for football club Ajax Amsterdam from 1959 to 1966 where he scored 60 goals. He played for the Germ ...

then became player-coach for about a dozen games before being replaced by Josef "Pepi" Gruber in June. During this period, the Phantoms settled out of court with Sparta Rotterdam, a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

professional soccer club based in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, for $50,000 when the team signed Theo Laseroms to a contract, while he was still under contract with Sparta. The team finished the season in 5th place in the Eastern Division with a record of 10 win, 14 loses and 7 draws and with an average attendance of 3,122. Recording losses of $700,000-750,000, the team folded.

Year-by-year

References

{{Pittsburgh sports Defunct soccer clubs in Pennsylvania Phantoms Soccer clubs in Pittsburgh National Professional Soccer League (1967) franchises 1967 establishments in Pennsylvania 1967 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Soccer clubs in Pennsylvania Association football clubs established in 1967 Association football clubs disestablished in 1967