Oakland Clippers (soccer)

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The Oakland Clippers (1969 California Clippers ) were a 1967 to 1969 existing football - Franchise from the Californian city of Oakland . The Clippers were champions of the inaugural season of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967, narrowly missed the play-offs of the first season of the North American Soccer League (NASL) and played a final season in 1969 as an independent team against foreign clubs on a US tour as well against US regional selections.

In the NPSL, the Clippers were part of the Western Division . Your goalkeeper Mirko Stojanović had previously been an unassisted Yugoslav World Cup driver in 1962 as well as a Yugoslav cup winner and champion with Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade and was the best goalkeeper in the league. With 19 wins from 32 games, the Clippers were by far the most successful team of the regular season, the season finale, which was played in two-legged form, was won against the Baltimore Bays 4-1 in the second leg after a 0-1 defeat in Baltimore .

Also in the first season of the NASL the Clippers were the best team in the league in the regular season in terms of wins, goal difference and goals scored, but due to a special bonus point regulation they were eliminated before the play-offs .

Following the 1968 season, the Clippers defeated the reigning English champions Manchester City 3-1 and then the Israeli national team 2-1 in quick succession in September .

After the season the NASL almost collapsed, at the turn of the year there were no more ten teams; When the league leaders, as a rescue attempt for the beginning of the 1969 season, allowed foreign clubs to appear under the respective franchise name instead of their own teams in order to attract more spectators, the management of the Clippers decided to stick to the roster of Clippers and to leave the NASL in order to become a fully independent team focus on friendly matches. At the same time the name was changed to California Clippers . From January through June 1, the Clippers won seven out of 15 games, lost six and drew twice; they hosted the California International Cup in May, in which they lost in a tie with West Bromwich Albion to both VFC Setúbal and Dukla Prague , of two games against the reigning Italian champions Fiorentina they lost one, but won the second leg with 4: 2; the US national team was even defeated 4-0. Most attention, however, attracted a series of games against the top Soviet club and reigning champions Dynamo Kiev on the first US tour of a football team from the USSR in the United States, each of the three games attracted more than 10,000 spectators to the stadium; In sporting terms, both teams won a game, the third ended 1: 1, a draw. In the summer of 1969, the Clippers disbanded.

All-Star Player of the Clippers

(The NPSL only selected one All-Star Team, the NASL a first (1st) and a second (2nd) All-Star Team)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Steve Holroyd: The Year in American Soccer - 1967. In: The US Soccer History Archives. August 15, 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2018 .
  2. ^ A b c Steve Holroyd: The Year in American Soccer - 1968. In: The US Soccer History Archives. January 31, 2010, accessed September 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c Dave Wangerin: "Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game", 2006, ISBN 0954013476 , p. 144.
  4. ^ A b c Steve Holroyd: The Year in American Soccer - 1969. In: The US Soccer History Archive. July 22, 2006, accessed September 28, 2018 .
  5. ^ Wangerin, p. 137.
  6. ^ Yaniv Bleicher: Israel National Team - List of Unofficial International Games. In: RSSSF Archive. The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, February 11, 2011, accessed September 28, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Wangerin, p. 143 f.
  8. ↑ Wrongly given the first name David in the official player directory.