One of the most underrated parts of American Soccer History is the city of Atlanta. So many good times have come out of that city, that the lack of research on it is sad. That being said, since we are only talking about the NASL era, we do have a great amount of stuff to talk about. This series is going to be a lot like the last one, but with not as long of a timeline as Washington had.

The start of pro soccer in Atlanta started in 1967, by the owners of the Atlanta Braves. They were looking to use their newly built Atlanta Stadium on off days for the Braves. The owners of the Braves used their same subject for the soccer name, giving the team the Chiefs name. Ah back in the days where we didn’t care about everyone, oh wait, that was last week. They also were able to bring in some very notable global stars, most of which we will talk about in a later article, though they did have striker Kaizer Montaung.

Kaizer Montaung was a South African legend and went on to found the Kaizer Cheifs in South Africa

They also had one of the most important people in NASL history, as part of their set up, in Phil Woosman. While he was still a player, he was also their manager, and with that came having to do all the public relations, camps etc. They did win the first NASL Championship in 1968, and beat Manchester City twice in the same year. The Manchester City tour is famous also for making one legend of American soccer media a fan, a young Kartik Krishnaiyer was in the stands.

Like the rest of the league, the Chiefs started the 70s without being able to sustain their upward trajectory. They struggled with attendance, and ownership changes. The franchise was sold, and rebranded as the Apollos for the 1973 season. The Apollos were owned by the Omni Group who ran Atlanta’s new arena, aptly known as the Omni Arena. The front man for the group was Omni President Bill Putnam. They however only lasted one year, with a record of 3 wins, 9 losses and 7 ties. Paull Child, an English forward, was the only one who stayed from the Chiefs. He only scored eight goals, but was an Honorable Mention NASL All Star.

During the middle of the season, the Omni Group fired Bill Putman, and the new leadership decided to end the NASL team completely in October 1973. It was a long wait for another club to surface in Atlanta again. However, it was a reboot of the first NASL team, by the Braves. This time, media mogul Ted Turner restarted the Atlanta Chiefs, and it was different from the last time the Braves owned the Chiefs name because Turner bought the Braves in 1976.

Phil Woosnam was a player/manager for the Atlanta Cheifs and went on to be the architect of NASL

The new edition of the Chiefs, the NASL was a different league than before. The New York Cosmos were the hip club to follow. They were signing international stars left and right. This caused the league to swell to 24 teams by the start of the 1980s. Instead of starting a new club, Turner moved the Colorado Caribous to Atlanta. This edition of the Chiefs was a flop, in their first season, under manager Dan Wood, they finished 12-18. The attendance only hit 7,350 which ranked 20th among the 24 clubs. English Striker Jeff Bourne was the only bright spot that year finishing fourth in the scoring chart with 18 goals, and 15 assists. The 1980 season was even worse, Wood was fired midway through the season, and the Chiefs finished with a 7-25 record. They also had the lowest attendance with 4,884 per match at a 52,000 seat Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.

So, Georgians weren’t interested in the outside NASL game, so let's have an indoor game. The Memphis Rogues moved south for the winter, but this worked well, going 10-2 with a 5,069 per match for the six indoor matches. The following year of 1980-81 the Chiefs tied the Sting with the best record overall with a 13-5 record. The Chiefs lead the league in indoor attendance with 10,287 people. Though the season ended in the semi-finals to the Stings.

The 1981 outdoor season was a success, due to the arrival of Brian Kidd on loan from the Bolton Wanderers. He finished with 22 goals. The Chiefs won the Southern Division with a 17-15 and earned their first playoff appearance, but lost to the Jacksonville Tea Men. The crowds were bad still, only drawing 6,189 per match. On August 21, 1981 three days after the last loss the owners closed the doors. They had lost at least 5.5 Million over three years. They were one of seven teams to close up shop in 1981, by 1984 the league was no more.

by Stephen Brandt