The San Francisco Golden Gate Gales were 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 that played in the United Soccer Association (USA). The team was based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and played their home games at the

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...

. The team folded when the USA merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the

North American Soccer League 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 ba ...

History

In 1966 several groups of entrepreneurs were exploring the idea of forming a professional soccer league in United States. One of these groups, United Soccer Association (USA) led by

Jack Kent Cooke Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...

, selected 12 cities for team locations and George Fleharty, owner of the

Ice Follies The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later ...

, was awarded the San Francisco franchise. The USA originally planned to start play in the spring of 1968; however the rival National Professional Soccer League, which secured a TV contract from CBS, announced it was ready to launch in 1967. Not wanting to let the rival league gain an advantage, the USA decided to launch early. Not having secured any player contracts, the league imported teams from Europe, Brazil, and Uruguay. The Dutch team

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegatio ...

were brought over to represent the city of

. The Gales opened the season at home against the Vancouver Royals with a 6-1 win in front of crowd of 8,177. The Gales finished the season in second place with a record of 5 wins, 3 ties and 4 losses while drawing an average home league attendance of 5,422. Following the 1967 season the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

teams began to build clubs for the next season. Retired Hungarian football player

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forwar ...

was brought in to coach the Gales and began to assemble and train players. However, in December 1968 the

and the National Professional Soccer League merged to form the

. The Gales closed their franchise to yield to bay region to the Oakland Clippers and the owners bought an interest in the Vancouver Royals.

Year-by-year

Notes

References

{{North American Soccer League (1968–84) G Defunct soccer clubs in California United Soccer Association franchises ADO Den Haag 1967 establishments in California 1967 disestablishments in California Soccer clubs in California Association football clubs established in 1967 Association football clubs disestablished in 1967