Maccabee Los Angeles Explained

Clubname:Maccabee Athletic Club
Fullname:Maccabee Los Angeles
מכבי לוס אנג'לס
Nickname:Maccabees
Founded:1971 (competitive)
Dissolved:1982
Stadium:Jackie Robinson Field
Capacity:10,820
League:Greater Los Angeles Soccer League
American:true
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Maccabee Athletic Club (Hebrew: מכבי לוס אנג'לס, MAH-KAH-Bee) was an American athletic club based in Los Angeles, California. The primary activity of the club was Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club, a team which competed professionally in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League. The soccer club is notable for appearing in the US Open Cup final seven times in its eleven-year history, becoming one of only two teams to win the competition five times.[1]

History

Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club was formed by a group of Israeli expatriates to serve as a recreational Sunday soccer team.[2] The team began playing competitively in 1971 as part of the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League, with the addition of former Israeli national team players who had recently immigrated to the Los Angeles area. While the club used the Star of David and other Jewish symbols, the players came from various countries and many of them were not Jewish.[3] They won the Triple Crown twice in 1977 and 1978 by winning the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League, California State Cup and the US Open Cup. They qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 1974 and 1978 but withdrew before competing both times.[4] Maccabee Los Angeles played Bridgeport Vasco da Gama from Connecticut in the 1978 US Open Cup winning thefinal at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The match was part of a double header with the New York Cosmos and the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League in front of 30,000 fans. Maccabee Los Angeles ceased operations after the 1982 season but Maccabee Athletic Club is still in existence for youth players.[3]

Honors

(2): 1977, 1978

Past rosters

US Open Cup 1982

US Open Cup results

Notes and References

  1. The other team to win five National Challenge Cups was Bethlehem Steel F.C.Web site: US Open Cup, National Challenge Cup history: Year-by-year - TheCup.us - Full Coverage of US Open Cup Soccer. thecup.us. 15 May 2015 . 17 September 2017.
  2. News: The 1971–81 Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Team . SoCal Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . 1998 . 9 August 2012.
  3. News: Baxter . Kevin . August 30, 2019 . How Holocaust survivors, immigrants and a soap opera star formed a soccer powerhouse . . August 30, 2019.
  4. Web site: The Year in American Soccer - 1978. homepages.sover.net. 17 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20150217025808/http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1978.html. 17 February 2015. dead.