1971: The Cosmos play their first-ever game on April 17th in St. Louis and beat the St. Louis Stars 2-1. On May 5th, 3,746 fans attend the inaugural home game at Yankee Stadium a 1-0 victory over the Washington Darts. Coached by Gordon Bradley, the Cosmos go on to finish second in the Northern Division of the N.A.S.L. with a record of 9 wins, 10 losses and 5 ties. That qualifies them for the playoffs in their inaugural year, where they lose in two straight games to the Atlanta Chiefs.

1972: The Cosmos move from Yankee Stadium to Hofstra University on Long Island for the 1972 season. Striker Randy Horton from Bermuda becomes the team’s first star and leads the league in scoring with 9 goals and 4 assists in 13 games. The Cosmos win the Northern Division, beat the Dallas Tornado in a playoff semi-final, and win their first North American championship with a 2-1 victory over St. Louis in the championship game at Hofstra.

1973: The Cosmos finish second in the Eastern Division with a record of 7-5-7. They are eliminated in the semi-finals by the Dallas Tornado.

1974: The Cosmos move to Downing Stadium on Randalls Island and finish last for the only time in their history with a record of 4-14-2.

1975: The season starts slowly with 3 wins and 6 losses in the first nine games. On June 10th however, the future direction of the franchise changes dramatically. After a concerted two-year courtship, The Cosmos’ Warner Communications ownership shocks the soccer world by signing Pele, the most renowned soccer player of all-time, to a 3-year contract worth a reported $7-million. On June 18th, the Brazilian superstar makes his debut in front of an overflow crowd of 22,500 and a world-wide media spotlight. The Cosmos beat Toronto 2-0, providing a major visibility boost to the N.A.S.L. and to soccer across the United States. Pele plays in nine games, scoring 5 goals and 4 assists, but the team finishes 10-12 and misses the playoffs.

1976: The Cosmos return to Yankee Stadium, and enhance their new big-time image by signing Italian international striker Giorgio Chinaglia. Chinaglia makes his debut on May 17th, and scores twice in a resounding 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Aztecs in front of 24,292. Chinaglia finishes the season as the league’s leading scorer with 19 goals and 11 assists in just 19 games, and the Cosmos finish second in the Northern Division with a 16-8 record. They beat Washington 2-0 in a first-round playoff match, but lose the Division Championship 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in Tampa. Pele plays 22 games, registering 13 goals and 18 assists.

1977: The breakthrough season in Cosmos history. The team moves into brand-new Giants Stadium in New Jersey, and finally finds a permanent home. They beat Rochester 2-0 in their first Meadowlands home game. On May 25th after early-season struggles, the team lures German superstar Franz Beckenbauer, who signs after captaining West Germany to the World Cup championship in 1974, and Bayern Munich to three successive European Cup championships. Eddie Firmani replaces Gordon Bradley as coach and the new stadium and all-star international cast begin paying huge dividends at the gate. A record 32,000 turn out on June 12th against Minnesota, a record that is shattered when 62,319 show up on Father’s Day Sunday the following week against archrival Tampa Bay. ‘The Cosmos Phenomenon’ swings into full-gear, the media responds with unprecedented coverage and the team responds to the home crowds. Brazilian sweeper Carlos Alberto, Pele’s long-time teammate at Santos and on the renowned Brazilian National Team joins the fold on July 17th, and the final piece to the championship puzzle is in place. The Cosmos win their last eight home games but still finish second to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers with a record of 15-11. In the playoffs, the Cosmos late-season momentum turns the tables on the Strikers, beginning with a memorable 8-3 rout before a Giants Stadium sellout crowd of 77,691. The Cosmos complete the two-game sweep with a 3-2 win in Fort Lauderdale and advance to the Conference final. A Chinaglia goal wins the first leg in Rochester, and the Cosmos return home to sweep the Lancers 4-1 in front of 73,669 fans who turn out in the pouring rain. The Cosmos move on to Soccer Bowl, the N.A.S.L. championship game in Portland, Oregon on August 27th and Chinaglia’s 81st minute goal defeats the Seattle Sounders 2-1, a storybook championship in Pele’s last competitive game. The now world-famous club goes on tour to China through September and returns home for the Pele Farewell Game on October 1st. In a fitting ceremonial send-off and thank you to the King of Soccer, the Cosmos host his long-time Brazilian club Santos. Pele plays one half for each team in front of a 75,646 fans and a worldwide television audience. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this memorable game and dream season.

1978: Pele is retired, but the star-studded Cosmos blueprint is in place. The club signs Yugoslavian international Vladislav Bogicevic and English star Dennis Tueart to help fill the Pele offensive void around Chinaglia. The team roars through a 24-6 regular-season and crowds continue to flock to the Meadowlands in record numbers, averaging nearly 50,000 through 15 regular-season home games. The Cosmos also generate the largest crowd of the year for each N.A.S.L. franchise it plays on the road. Chinaglia sets a league record with 34 goals to go along with 11 assists in 30 games. The club defeats Seattle 5-2 in a first-round home playoff game, but then hits the major crossroad of its season after a 9-2 thrashing by the Minnesota Kicks in the first-leg of the Conference Semi-Finals. The team returns home and again rides its large Meadowlands crowd to a 4-0 victory to even the series. After a scoreless mini-game, the Cosmos use the coolness of a Carlos Alberto shootout-tying score and a Beckenbauer game-winner to move on to the Conference Championship in one of the more dramatic moments in team history. The team sweeps through Portland on the road and 5-0 back home and prepares to host the Soccer Bowl in Giants Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. 74,901watch Chinaglia and Tueart lead the Cosmos to a 3-1 win and the club becomes the first repeat champion in N.A.S.L. history. Their new acclaim has them in demand all over the world, and the club goes on post-season tours of Europe and South America.

1979: Ray Klivecka replaces Eddie Firmani as coach early in the season, and the parade of international stars continues following the 1978 World Cup. Dutch stars Johan Neeskens and Wim Rijsbergen, Iranian defender Andranik Eskandarian, Portugal’s speedy Seninho and flamboyant Brazilian Francisco Marinho are added, along with a less-heralded signing of German goalkeeper Hubert Birkenmeier, who would become the most reliable netminder in club history. The Cosmos continue to dominate the Eastern Division and rack up a second consecutive 24-6 regular-season. The club rolls through a first-round playoff series with Toronto, and rallies from a second-round road loss in Tulsa to beat the Roughnecks at home 3-0 in the regulation game and 3-1 in an explosive 30-minute mini-game. In the Conference Final, the Cosmos return to the road and lose 2-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps, an experienced British-laden Western Division champion. In the process, the Cosmos also lose Carlos Alberto and Eskandarian to red cards for the return leg at home. On a marathon Meadowlands afternoon, the Cosmos win the regulation game 3-2 in shootout, but after a scoreless mini-game they finally succumb in another dramatic shootout. It is the only elimination loss the Cosmos would ever suffer in Giants Stadium. 1979 also marked the emergence of the second element of the Cosmos master plan, the integration of the young American player into its international galaxy of stars. California midfielder Rick Davis, capitalizing on everyday training with the experienced veterans surrounding him, wins the league’s North American Player of the Year, and is voted player of the game on six occasions. Several American players would follow in his footsteps in the next couple of years.

1980: Professor Julio Mazzei, Pele’s longtime advisor, begins the season as coach, as the Cosmos await the end of the European season and the May arrival of renowned German coach Hennes Weisweiler. This year’s youth-oriented additions include Paraguay’s teenage sensation Julio Cesar Romero and young Americans Jeff Durgan and Angelo DiBernardo, along with a mid-season signing of Belgian international Francois Van der Elst. Once again, the Cosmos romp through the regular-season with a 24-8 mark. On May 16th, Chinaglia becomes the N.A.S.L.’s all-time leading scorer with his 102nd goal in exactly four years. He goes on to lead the league in scoring with 32 goals in 32 games, Romero makes an immediate impact with 14 goals and 19 assists, and Bogicevic sets an all-time league assist record. Chinaglia saves the best performance of his career for the playoffs, beginning with two goals in a 3-1 opening-round road win in Tulsa, and a whopping seven in an 8-1 return leg victory at home, a performance which makes headlines around the world. The Cosmos go on to beat Dallas in the second round, and sweep past the Los Angeles Aztecs in the Conference Final to get back to their third Soccer Bowl in four years. On a steamy Sunday afternoon in Washington’s RFK Stadium, Romero breaks through for a goal early in the second half, and Chinaglia tacks on two more to lead the Cosmos past Fort Lauderdale 3-0 for their fourth North American Championship. Chinaglia ends the playoffs with a phenomenal 18 goals in just seven games, to finish with an even 50 scores on the year. The team leaves shortly for an extended fall European tour.

1981: Hennes Weisweiler returns as coach, and the regular-season dynasty rolls on to a fourth straight 20-win regular season, this time 23-9. Another Paraguayan teenage star Roberto Cabanas adds new flash and scoring support to Chinaglia, and a new rivalry emerges with the Chicago Sting and its own star-studded roster of veterans, primarily from Germany’s Bundesliga. Chinaglia leads the league in scoring again with 29 goals in 32 games. The team beats Tampa Bay in three games in the first round of the playoffs and sweeps Ft. Lauderdale 4-3 in Florida and 4-1 back in Giants Stadium to advance to its fourth Soccer Bowl in five years.
The Sting are the opponent in Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium, and the teams engage in a tense struggle with close chances on both ends but no goals through ninety minutes and then overtime. The Sting eke out a shootout victory, the only Soccer Bowl the Cosmos would ever lose. Once again, the Cosmos head off to tour Europe.

1982: Professor Julio Mazzei returns as coach, and once again the Cosmos roar through a 23-9 regular season against a backdrop of a league beginning to show signs of franchise problems. Chinaglia leads the league in scoring for the sixth time with 20 goals, and the team enters the playoffs determined to regain its North American title. They begin with a three-game opening-series win over Tulsa including a resounding 5-0 opening-game at Giants Stadium. They go on to a two-game sweep of San Diego and advance to their fifth Soccer Bowl in six years, against Seattle in Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Chinaglia strikes a crowning and fitting climax to the glory years with a 25th-minute goal and a 1-0 victory. The Cosmos win their fourth North American championship in six years, and fifth and final overall.

1983: With a league beginning to fold one-by-one around them, its flagship franchise forges on to a 22-8 regular-season record, their sixth straight 20-win season. Franz Beckenbauer returns to try and inject new life into an ailing league, but the Cosmos lose a controversial first-round in shootout to the Montreal Manic. Roberto Cabanas leads the league in scoring with 25 goals and 16 assists in 28 games and Giorgio Chinaglia retires as the landslide all-time scorer in American professional soccer history with 165 career goals, a record that still stands.

1984: With Chinaglia and Beckenbauer gone and only five franchises standing, the league goes through the motions of its final season. The Cosmos finish with a 13-11 record and fails to make the playoffs for the first time since 1975. Due to non-discerning player salaries and over-expansion, the North American Soccer League was forced to stop play after this season. The Cosmos play their final game on September 15th against the Chicago Sting. After exploring other professional leagues and options, the Cosmos decide to devote time and effort to their extensive youth camp programs.