Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL

Nearly 40 years since its demise, the North American Soccer League continues to linger in the memories and imaginations of soccer fans across the United States — and beyond. The colorful, oftentimes controversial league attracted some of the game’s greatest players: Pele, Best, Cruyff, Muller, Beckenbauer, to name a few. Crowds of 70,000-plus flocked to games as the NASL brought star power to a country where soccer had been virtually invisible just a few years earlier.

• Rachel ViolletDirector

• Brandi ChastainSelf
• Clive ToyeSelf
• PeléSelf (archive footage)
• George BestSelf (archive footage)
• Johan CruijffSelf (archive footage)
• Giorgio ChinagliaSelf (archive footage)
• Franz BeckenbauerSelf (archive footage)