The shape of the tarnish on the trophy’s bowl is unmistakable. It’s a pair of lips—a single kiss perfectly preserved—somehow burned or branded onto the shimmering silver. 

Tom Larsen was stunned when he saw it. Because of some slight damage to the base, the Soccer Bowl ’77 trophy wasn’t displayed alongside its counterparts at Mediacom’s New York headquarters. It had been carefully preserved, however, and placed in a climate-controlled storage facility, because the importance of the New York Cosmos’ second NASL trophy also was unmistakeable. It was earned in the great Pelé’s last competitive match, a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders in Portland, Ore. 

Although that final was played nearly 50 years ago, it still resonates. So much so that FIFA, as it compiled a wish list for the Miami museum it plans to open before the 2026 World Cup, contacted Mediacom and asked to borrow the trophy. 

“They said, ‘We would love to do a space on Pelé and that’s the last trophy he ever won,’” recalled Larsen, Mediacom’s senior VP and general counsel. “That just shows you how important the Cosmos still are and how even internationally, they matter to people.” 

Mediacom and its founder and chairman, Rocco B. Commisso, had owned the Cosmos since early 2017. But Larsen hadn’t noticed the tarnish until the trophy was retrieved from storage last winter. It quickly brought to mind a widely-circulated, black-and-white photo of Pelé and Cosmos teammate Werner Roth carrying the trophy upon their triumphant return to JFK Airport. Sure enough, there’s El Rey, front and center in what appears to be a stylish white linen suit, planting an enthusiastic kiss on the cup. 

“Clearly, the lips are Pele’s. You can see in the photo, the kiss is in the exact spot,” Larsen exclaimed. “We put it in the contract with FIFA: you can’t polish this! The historic value of the kiss is what makes it unique.” 

How did the tarnish happen? What might’ve been on Pelé´s lips? Was it chemistry, or perhaps something less scientific? It’s impossible to know a half century later. But there they are, clearly imprinted on the metal, a genuine American soccer relic. Pelé’s legend, and the lore surrounding that once-in-a-lifetime Cosmos team and a unique era in the domestic game’s meandering history, continues to grow. 

A soccer club obviously exists to play the sport. That’s its primary function. But over time, a club often becomes about more than athletes and supporters, wins and losses, tickets and transfers. 

We see it every time a goal scorer kisses the badge on their jersey. We see it when fans of teams like Atlético Madrid, Leeds United, the Chicago Fire and so many more fight to preserve a logo that became a symbol of community and shared history. The word “brand” may sound a bit corporate, but consider an original meaning: an identity burned permanently onto something. Crests and colors, history and tradition, old jerseys and trophies that kindle priceless memories—a kiss sealed in silver—these are also vital components of a club, as fundamental as a person’s name. 

That’s why so many stewards, from Commisso, Larsen and Mediacom to the renowned Peppe Pinton, have worked so diligently and invested so much to preserve the Cosmos’ brand and legacy. There were years when the Cosmos haven’t played soccer. But from its 1971 founding to its record eighth championship in 2016 and beyond, it’s always been a soccer club. 

“The continuity of the club is clearly defined,” said Erik Stover, who ran the Cosmos during their NASL 2.0 era and will serve as CEO when they return to the Hinchliffe Stadium pitch in Paterson, NJ, in 2026. “We know who owned the club and when, and all of those people who maintained the trademarks and fielded teams and believed in the ideal of the Cosmos. 

“It’s a uniquely American soccer story in that there are big gaps when they didn’t play,” Stover continued. “In the late ‘80s through the early 2000s, Peppe Pinton spent a lot of his own money keeping the dream of the Cosmos alive, keeping the club active by selling merchandise and doing camps and clinics. And that effort has been consistent throughout the last 50 years.” 

Pinton, who still lives in Northern New Jersey, was a colleague and friend of Cosmos legend Giorgio Chinaglia. The Italian striker had taken majority control of the club from Warner Communications in 1984, shortly after concluding his glittering playing career. The original NASL then shut down in 1985, and Chinaglia subsequently transferred ownership and control of the Cosmos’ assets to Pinton, then the club’s general manager. Over the next quarter century, Pinton dutifully kept the Cosmos alive, maintaining the trademarks, running his Cosmos Soccer Camps (which still exist) and dreaming of a return to professional play. 

“He’s the person that saved the brand from its death,” Larsen said. 

Pinton finally parted with the Cosmos in 2011, selling the club to a consortium fronted by English businessman Paul Kemsley. He then sold it to a group led by English sports marketing executive Seamus O’Brien later that year. The American pro soccer landscape had shifted considerably by that point, and the advent of the second NASL ensured the Cosmos could join a league that guaranteed their independence. The stars finally aligned for a return to competition, and the long hiatus ended with a sixth championship in 2013. 

The on-field success reflected the Cosmos’ legacy. In Raúl González and Marcos Senna, the club showcased the brilliant and charismatic imports for which it was famous. But with the likes of Carlos Mendes and Danny Szetela, among others, the Cosmos also fielded the sort of local and domestic talent which has always been a critical and treasured part of their identity. 

Additional NASL titles were claimed in 2015 and 2016 and multiple MLS foes were vanquished in the U.S. Open Cup. But a club isn’t just players and games, and what transpires off the field matters, too. The NASL was struggling, and the Cosmos, after playing in Nassau County and Brooklyn, still lacked a permanent home.  

The Cosmos were running out of time when Commisso, a long-time soccer fan who played for Columbia University in 1967-70, stepped in and purchased the team in early 2017. But when U.S. Soccer stripped the NASL of its sanctioning during the ensuing campaign, the Cosmos were adrift once again. 

Apart from a handful of games contested as part of a National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) tournament in fall 2020, the Cosmos haven’t played since. But the club endured. Like his Italian-American compatriot, Pinton, Commisso desperately wanted to see the Cosmos back on the field. But he had to ensure that field was a fair and level one, so he began backing the NASL’s antitrust suit against U.S. Soccer and MLS in fall 2017. 

Meanwhile, Larsen and his colleagues have been keeping the Cosmos’ heart beating. Through May of last year, he stayed active on the NISA board while the club remained a dues-paying member. NISA operated as a third division pro league from 2021 through 2024. The Cosmos logo retained its value. International outfitters like Admiral and TOFFS utilized deals with the club to create and sell thousands of branded items, while the Cosmos maintained a local presence through a jersey distribution arrangement with a Westchester County, NY, soccer shop. Larsen led the protection and defense of the trademark against counterfeiters and unlicensed users, and Pinton continued running his Cosmos soccer camps with the blessing of club ownership. 

“We did a lot. We were busy. We were really working at building the Cosmos brand and protecting it at the same time. That’s not putting a team on the field, but it was working toward that goal,” Larsen said. 

“At the same time, I was always looking for a potential buyer,” he continued. “I didn’t want Rocco’s legacy to be the last owner of the Cosmos. He bought them to save them, to keep the brand alive. In his heart, he wanted the club to play again. But he also didn’t want to put the brand in the hands of someone who started it and then failed. It was important to find an owner that had the business plan in place to make this thing a going concern, that could survive.” 

Re-enter Stover, who maintained a relationship with Larsen over the years. Stover, the New York Red Bulls’ managing director before running the Cosmos, returned to New Jersey after a stint in Denmark and reconnected with former colleague Baye Adofo-Wilson, a real estate developer and attorney who had been Deputy Mayor of Newark in 2014-17. Adofo-Wilson, a Paterson native, was spearheading a $110 million project anchored by the renovation and refurbishment of Hinchliffe Stadium, an historic venue that once housed Negro League baseball teams and stood just a few hundred feet from the famous Paterson Great Falls. 

“He had the vision that soccer would probably be the most popular sport in the stadium,” Stover said of Adofo-Wilson, now the Cosmos chairperson. “It is the only stadium of its type in the New York metropolitan area and it’s perfectly situated to build a club around.” 

Those were the ingredients Commisso and Larsen were seeking—the sort of permanent home and foundation that the Cosmos, despite all their assets, never established. Larsen reached out to Stover in early 2025 and the deal to sell the club to Adofo-Wilson’s North Jersey Pro Soccer group was quickly hammered out. Commisso retained a minority share in the team he rescued eight years earlier. 

“We took our time with respect to the team kicking the ball on the field. We took the time to find the right buyer. We found the right buyer. I think Paterson is a phenomenal landing spot—the [current Negro League baseball and future Cosmos] museum, the stadium renovation, the size of the field, the fact it’s got the falls, the view of the New York City skyline,” Larsen said. 

“The city is 100% behind this project and they’ve put their money into it,” he continued. ”The fact that Baye is a Paterson native and invested in making Paterson a great city again, and building a club that’s a reflection of the neighborhood and giving kids a place and a pathway, all that stuff is amazing, and that’s why I think we found the right place. But that part took time, and that was continuous with all the other stuff we did to keep the brand alive.” 

The museum Larsen mentioned will be constructed at Hinchliffe and will feature some of the thousands of items that Pinton, Stover, Commisso and others have saved across the decades (as well as that 1977 trophy once it’s returned by FIFA). Club museums aren’t uncommon elsewhere. Many understand intuitively that preserving the tangible trappings of the game, and memorializing the players, moments and memories that mean so much to fans and the surrounding community, can be as much a part of the sport as scoring goals. It matters. It creates a thread that can be traced through seasons and generations. 

For the Cosmos, the most iconic club and brand in U.S. soccer history, that thread has remained intact from the moment founder Clive Toye conjured the name. There have been twists and turns, triumphs and troubles, but the full realization of the club’s mission now is finally at hand. And it has a home address. 

The Cosmos will field a professional women’s team for the first time in the coming years, and with Vice Chairman and Head of Soccer Giuseppe Rossi on board, the club will be committed to developing and promoting local talent once its USL League One schedule kicks off in 2026.  

“Cosmos” is short for “Cosmopolitan”, and the brand has always been about uniting diverse people in celebration of soccer. Like Pele’s silver kiss, neither the mission, nor that legendary logo, ever faded away. 

“Clive built the club one neighborhood at a time, and he was using soccer to pull different communities together around this club. Part of the club’s legacy is to be diverse and inclusive and that was at the core of the Cosmos when it was founded,” Stover said of Toye and the early ‘70s origins. “We’re doing exactly the same thing.”