CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
THE US HOSTS THE 1994 WORLD CUP
As the US struggled to achieve desired heights as a global soccer power, it needed another way to stimulate interest in the game in America. Hosting the World Cup was just that way, and in 1994 the tournament was played at massive (mostly football) stadiums, across the country. Fans turned out in droves to experience the “beautiful game.” Along the way, the US Men’s National Team performed respectably, proving it could hang with some of the best team’s in the world. The attendance and commercial figures associated with that tournament were so compelling, they still rank best in the history of the World Cup.
(Photo credit: Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE US HOSTS THE 1994 WORLD CUP
Not only did the 1994 World Cup give American sports fans a glimpse into the global ecosystem around soccer, it also birthed a generation of US players wiht big personalities to whom fans could connect. That gave the country hope that the impending top-flight domestic professional league, a stipulation of FIFA’s awarding the World Cup to the US, could succeed and maybe even thrive. That moment would take on a history of it own, but the connection that fans felt with those players, at least for a few weeks in the summer of 1994, created a sustainable path for soccer to grow in the country.
(Photo credit: The Philly Soccer Page)
Our GUEST
Andrei Markovits is an author, historian and longtime professor at the University of Michigan. He has written and edited many books, scholarly articles, conference papers, book reviews and newspaper contributions in English and many foreign languages on topics as varied as German and Austrian politics, anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, social democracy, social movements, the European right and the European left. Markovits has also worked extensively on comparative sports culture in Europe and North America. Some of his titles include Sportista: Female Fandom in the United States, (co-authored with Emily Albertson) and Gaming the World: How Sports Are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture. He was a frequent guest on Grant Wahl’s podcasts and is known for connecting global political concepts to the game of soccer.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
To learn more about EA Sports FC and its importance to the growth of the game in America, we recommend the following resources.
Books
Articles
- How USA was chosen to host World Cup 94: the inside story of a historic day
- World Cup in 1994 gave U.S. soccer the kick in the pants it needed
- How the 1994 World Cup changed soccer in the US.
- World Cups Revisited: The Story of USA 1994
Our PERSPECTIVE
The 1994 World Cup was the perfect approach to soccer indoctrination for so many Americans. It brought “the circus to town” and appealed the event mindset that so many sports fans in the country had and maintain to this day. As with so many moments in American soccer history, once fans got to the game for any number of reasons, they stayed for the game. There’s no doubt that happened with the 94 World Cup.
The journey has not been linear since. Ups and downs have ensued. But the knock on effect of that event provided a building block for other key moments — such as the founding of Major League Soccer and the 1999 World Cup. After years of struggling to gain traction with the senior national team on a global stage, hosting the world’s biggest event in the sport gave soccer an infusion of interest that is invaluable to the evolution of the sport in America.
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