The Cleveland Stokers were a soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio that played in the United Soccer Association during 1967 and the North American Soccer League in 1968. Their home field was Cleveland Stadium.
History
United Soccer Association
In 1966 a group of United States and Canadian sports entrepreneurs, led by Jack Kent Cooke, formed the United Soccer Association with the intention of organizing a professional soccer 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 and South America. 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. Stoke City, who played in the Football League First Division subsequently represented the Cleveland, Ohio franchise.
The traveling Stoke party included the likes of Gordon Banks, Peter Dobing, George Eastham, Maurice Setters and Roy Vernon as well as manager Tony Waddington. Paul Wilcox was commentator. WXEN-FM broadcast nearly every match both seasons, Joe Wendel initially did commentary, followed by Van Lane and Van Portucia.
Year-by-year
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Year
!League
!W
!L
!T
!Pts
!Regular season
!Playoffs
!Avg. attendance
|-
|1967
|USA
|5
|3
|4
|14
|2nd, Eastern Division
|Did not qualify
|6,567
|-
|1968
|NASL
|14
|7
|11
|175
|bgcolor="B3B7FF"|1st, Lakes Division
|Lost Playoff (Atlanta)
|4,305
|}
Honors
Division titles
- 1968: NASL Lakes Division
First team All-Star Selections
- 1967: Peter Dobing, George Eastham, Roy Vernon
- 1968: Rubén Navarro
Second team All-Star Selections
- 1967: Gordon Banks, Eric Skeels, John Moore
- 1968: Enrique Mateos
Hall of Fame members
- Indoor Soccer: Roy Turner