New York – “the Mecca of football in a way”
New York has everything except space. That's why people in the city started building upwards early on instead of outwards, and why Keith Miller is now standing on a former shipping pier on the Hudson River in southwest Manhattan. "If someone in New York has a bit of land, they certainly won't build soccer fields. We have to be creative. We have to play soccer on the roof of a parking garage," he says. Or here, on Pier 40.
Two artificial turf soccer fields are each divided into three thirds. That makes six small pitches. A seven-a-side game takes place on each field. Teams wear red, green, and pink T-shirts. The teams have imaginative names. One is called "Win or Booze," which roughly translates to "win or booze."
Most of the players are in their mid- to late 20s, and a few women are also involved. You can hear feet kicking balls, you can hear players shouting, and somewhere a ball hits the post. A wonderful hustle and bustle in front of a backdrop that's impressive if you're not used to it.
Because when football fans talk about the crowd, they mean the atmosphere in the stadium. The thunderous cheers from Dortmund's South Stand, the powerful chants at Anfield Road in Liverpool, the infernal noise at Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul.
There are no spectators at Pier 40, except for soccer players waiting for their turn and a reporter from Germany. "Backdrop," in this case, is meant literally: If you stand at one end of the small fields, you can see the Empire State Building in Manhattan; if you stand at the other end, you can see the Freedom Tower, built on the site of the old World Trade Center. Keith Miller says he was here on the evening of September 10, 2001. He looked at the Twin Towers. The next day, September 11, they were gone.
“Definitely a soccer city”: Keith Miller, founder of “Metrosoccer NY”.
Source: Hendrik Buchheister
Miller is the founder of Metrosoccer NY, a company that organizes games for recreational soccer players in New York. There are several leagues for teams, for those under 30 and over 40, for men, women, and mixed teams. Pier 40 is one of several locations in New York where Metrosoccer NY games are played. During the conversation, Miller receives a message: the results of the games played at the Metrosoccer field in Chinatown.
Miller says 2,000 players are registered with his organization – and that, in addition to Metrosoccer NY, there are competitors who also organize games for recreational soccer players. "New York is definitely a soccer city," Miller is convinced.
Hardly any other place in the world represents so many things at once: New York is the city of museums, theaters, banks, and fashion. New York is the city of skyscrapers and neon signs. The city of Christmas comedies and yellow taxis. The city of Donald Trump and the UN. The city of cream cheese bagels (vegan too!) and rats. The city of baseball, basketball, American football, and ice hockey.
This Sunday, the Club World Cup final will take place across the Hudson River – at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The 2026 World Cup final for national teams will be held there. So, New York is also the world capital of football right now. But is the largest and most international city in the football-skeptical USA really a "soccer city," as Miller says at Pier 40?
Short answer: absolutely. Longer answer: definitely – but you have to know where to look to find football. And: You have to differentiate between football, the spectator sport, and football, the sport you play yourself.
A good place to get closer to the soccer city of New York is at places like Pier 40. Miller says, "People in New York have a lot of sports to choose from. But soccer is one of the most popular. Maybe even number one." He means: when it comes to playing yourself. As a hobby, with friends after work. As a spectator sport, soccer still has potential in New York, as in the rest of the USA.
We take the subway to the Bronx, to the stadium where the Yankees usually play baseball. A magnificent building, sparsely attended last Thursday for New York City FC's game against Toronto FC. NYCFC, the short form of the club's name, is one of two New York representatives in the North American professional league MLS. The other is the New York Red Bulls.
Red Bulls is owned by the Austrian soft drink company, while NYCFC is owned by the Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group, whose flagship club is Manchester City. Like City, NYCFC plays in sky-blue jerseys, and like the English stadium, the Etihad Airways logo can be seen on every corner of Yankee Stadium. Before the match, there will be advertising for Etihad Park, NYCFC's new home—a soccer stadium in Queens scheduled to open in 2027.
A backdrop of empty seats: Yankee Stadium, here before the New York City FC vs. Toronto FC game.
Source: IMAGO/Imagn Images
The new home is necessary; Yankee Stadium is too big for NYCFC. The rectangular soccer field is painted into the baseball diamond. From many fields, the soccer field is so far away that binoculars would be helpful.
A visit to New York City FC is very New York. Before the game, the scoreboard displays images of all five boroughs: the World Trade Center in Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, and so on. Hip-hip music blares from the loudspeakers about the city that never sleeps. After every goal—NYCFC beats Toronto 3-1—steam rises from cylinders like those found on every corner in Manhattan, venting the underground heating system.
The crowd at Yankee Stadium consists mostly of empty seats. The stadium seats approximately 47,000 people and is—generously estimated—one-fifth full. Behind one of the goals is a fan block. From there, the sound of chants, drums, rattles, and cowbells wafts across the pitch for 90 minutes. The background music is reminiscent of the atmosphere at games between South American teams. Only with less force.
The announcements at Yankee Stadium are bilingual: one male announcer speaks in English, another in Spanish. The crowd is a diverse mix. That too: very New York. Except there aren't very many of them. Nine miles south of the stadium, at Pier 40, recreational soccer organizer Keith Miller says a few days later: "All the players here would say they support NYCFC or the Red Bulls. But if you asked them how many games they've been to in recent years, it's maybe two or three."
The Red Bulls play far away, in New Jersey, while New York City FC plays in the Bronx, at least for now. Will the new stadium attract more spectators?
When people in the US spend money on live sports, they're paying for quality, for the best of the best. New Yorkers can choose between the Yankees and the Mets in baseball, the Giants and the Jets in football, the Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets in basketball, and the Rangers and the Islanders in ice hockey. The city's MLS clubs can hardly compete.
Michael Lewis, 73, appears on the screen for a video call. In 1974, he started as a sports reporter for the local newspaper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He covered typical US sports.
After six months, his boss stood before him and asked if he, Lewis, would like to write about this European sport that was now a big deal in Rochester: soccer. He didn't want to. But what was he supposed to do during his probationary period? "After six months on the job, I was promoted to cover a sport I knew nothing about," Lewis says.
He has now covered eight men's and five women's World Cups, written several football books, and runs a website called "Front Row Soccer," where he writes about soccer, including New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls, as well as amateur and college soccer in the city. He says: "New York is definitely a soccer city. But are we a big soccer city?" Difficult.
Consistent mixing of football and show: Franz Beckenbauer (l.) and Pelé in 1977 in the jersey of New York Cosmos.
Source: imago images/WEREK
Today, Abu Dhabi and Red Bull are behind professional soccer in New York. Fifty years ago, entertainment giant Warner wanted to conquer the sport with a club that has become synonymous with the blend of soccer and showmanship: the New York Cosmos. The club brought in German World Cup-winning captain Franz Beckenbauer and Brazilian World Cup-winning captain Carlos Alberto, it brought in the Dutchman Johan Neeskens, and it brought in perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time: Pelé.
When author Lewis is asked about Cosmos, he has to collect himself. "Oh boy!" he says. "When I covered the team, I expected something magical in every game. You want to see things in football you've never seen before. Cosmos delivered those things." He speaks in the past tense; the club no longer exists. When the North American Soccer League folded in 1985, Cosmos went with it.
Back at Pier 40, the Empire State Building's exterior lights were on, and Matt Krantz, 36, and his team had won. 6-2 or 7-2, something like that.
6:2? 7:2? It doesn't matter: amateur soccer player Matt Krantz.
Source: Hendrik Buchheister
The people who play here aren't concerned with goal difference. "Football is the best way to meet people. The pitches here are very accessible. The number 1 subway line is right around the corner. It's also quick to get here from New Jersey. Some of the teams have been around forever. The people here just want to play every day, all day long." New York, says Krantz, isn't just a football city, but "the mecca of football in a way." In a way: for amateur footballers like him. Not as a stadium sport.
In New York, you have to know where to look to find football. And you should expect to find it in unusual places. On a jetty on the Hudson River, for example.
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