New York City FC will make their home debut at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, but their match against the New England Revolution (5 pm ET, ESPN2) will be far from the first soccer match played at the iconic venue.
Soccer debuted at the new Yankee Stadium – which opened in 2009 – in the summer of 2012, when Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain met in the Bronx in an international friendly. The stadium has hosted several big-time friendlies since, with Real Madrid and AC Milan meeting in the summer of 2012 and NYCFC sister club Manchester City facing Chelsea in May 2013 and Liverpool in July 2014.
The new stadium has also hosted one international friendly, with Spain beating Ireland 2-0 in the Bronx in June 2013. NYCFC Designated Player David Villa and LA Galaxy star Robbie Keane both started that match, each coming off just before the hour mark.
The old Yankee Stadium had a long tradition of hosting soccer matches, bringing in some of the most famous teams in the world, including Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus and Celtic, as well as the national teams of the US, England and Italy.
The first major match at the old stadium was played all the way back in 1931, when Celtic played a team of all-stars from the American Soccer League.
Soccer legend Pele has deep ties to the old Yankee Stadium, having played there in a friendly match with Brazilian club Santos against Portuguese star Eusebio and Benfica in 1968 before calling the stadium home with the NASL’s New York Cosmos in 1976. The Cosmos spent two years at the stadium, playing there in their debut season of 1971 and again in 1976 before playing out the remainder of their years in the old NASL at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
