The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, 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 ( ...

, finishing as champions, and in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

they were founding members of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

United Soccer Association

In 1966 a group of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

sports entrepreneurs, 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 new ...

, formed the

with the intention of organizing a professional

league. The USA originally intended to launch its league in the spring of 1968. However a rival league, the National Professional Soccer League, announced it was ready to launch in 1967. Not wanting to lose ground to its rival, the USA decided to fast track its launch. Without any players of its own, it opted to import whole teams from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It was intended that these teams would represent the franchises during the inaugural season, giving them time to build their own squads for the following season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, who had won promotion to the English First Division at the end of the 1966–67 season subsequently represented the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

franchise. Cooke had originally intended to call the team the Los Angeles Zorros, but when the agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers was made, it was decided to use their nickname of Wolves. Wolves played in the Western Division alongside

San Francisco Golden Gate Gales The San Francisco Golden Gate Gales were an American soccer team that played in the United Soccer Association (USA). The team was based in San Francisco, California and played their home games at the Candlestick Park. The team folded when the ...

, Chicago Mustangs,

Houston Stars The Houston Stars were an American professional soccer team based out of Houston, Texas. The Stars were a charter member of the United Soccer Association (USA) in 1967 and when the USA and rival National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) mer ...

Vancouver Royal Canadians The Vancouver Royals were a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1967 as the Vancouver Royal Canadians, they were a charter member of the United Soccer Association (USA), and when the USA ...

and

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. T ...

. These teams were represented by

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 relegation ...

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that plays in Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. The club currently plays home matches at the 16,416-sea ...

Bangu AC Bangu may refer to: * Bangladeshi, It is a peculiar slang used by Bangladeshi people to refer to fellow Bangladeshis who express ideologies through their political beliefs. * Bamileke, a Semi-Bantu ethnic group of people from Cameroon * Bangu (neigh ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. Of the twelve teams in the league, Wolves with a team coached by

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for 19 years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League and scoring 276 goals. ...

and featuring

Derek Dougan Alexander Derek Dougan (20 January 1938 – 24 June 2007) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, football manager, football chairman, pundit, and writer. He was also known by his nickname, "The Doog". He was capped by Northern I ...

, emerged as one of the strongest sides. After winning the Western Division, a flip of a coin gave them the right to host the championship play-off game against the Eastern Division champions,

Washington Whips The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (United Soccer Association, USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberde ...

, who were represented by

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. The match drew 17,824 to

Los Angeles Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Col ...

. Wolves won the championship beating the Whips 6–5 after 36 minutes of extra-time. Four goals were scored within a 4-minute period midway through the second half and each team scored during extra time. The game was decided after Whips defender Ally Shewan scored an own goal.

NASL

In December 1967 the USA merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the

. As a result, Wolves became founding members of the new league. During the inaugural 1968 season Wolves played in the ''Pacific Division'' alongside the

San Diego Toros The San Diego Toros were a professional soccer team based in San Diego, California. Founded in 1967 as the Los Angeles Toros, the team was one of the ten charter members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). When the NPSL and the ...

Oakland Clippers The Oakland Clippers (active 1967–1968, also named the California Clippers) were an American association football, soccer team based in Oakland, California. They played in the non-FIFA sanctioned National Professional Soccer League (1967), N ...

and

Vancouver Royals The Vancouver Royals were a Canadian professional association football, soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1967 as the Vancouver Royal Canadians, they were a charter member of the United Soccer Association, Un ...

. With a team coached by

Ray Wood Raymond Ernest Wood (11 June 1931 – 7 July 2002) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Representing Manchester United, he played in the 1956 and 1957 Football League championship-winning teams. Known for his pace ...

and featuring Carlos Metidieri, but no

players, they failed to repeat the success of the previous season. After finishing third in their division, Wolves were one of several NASL franchises that folded after just one season. The idea of importing teams to represent franchises was revived during the

1969 North American Soccer League season The 1969 North American Soccer League season was the second season of the North American Soccer League, the top division in US soccer in 1969. Five teams competed in the league's 2nd season. The season was divided into two parts; the Internati ...

and

returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, this time representing

Kansas City Spurs The Kansas City Spurs were an American professional soccer team who played in the North American Soccer League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They played their home games at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, former home of the Kansas City Chief ...

, and winning the NASL International Cup.

Year-by-year

Coaches

Players

Legacy

In 2014, the Wolves name was resurrected by a United Premier Soccer League team called the LA Wolves FC. In 2023, the LA Wolves story was brought alive in ''1967: When LA Wolves Conquered The USA'', a documentary made as a collaboration between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Munidal (part of the FootballCo group). The trailer of the film was released on 14 July 2023 to commemorate 56 years since the final. The final film was released in November 2023 and available on TNT in the UK, across the Discovery network in Europe and on NBC in the USA. It was also made available on the club’s official Wolves YouTube channel. The film was subsequently shortlisted for the Kicking & Screening Film festival in New York City in March 2024 and was also a finalist in the 2024 New York Festivals TV & Film awards.

References

External links

*
When LA Wolves conquered the USA
' (Video/Documentary, 30 mins.), Wolves Studios in partnership with FootballCo and Mundial

{{North American Soccer League (1968–84) Soccer clubs in Los Angeles North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams Defunct soccer clubs in California Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. United Soccer Association franchises Association football clubs established in 1966 Association football clubs disestablished in 1968 1966 establishments in California 1968 disestablishments in California