St. Louis, Missouri. The city that thrives on soccer. The history of soccer in St. Louis goes back to the early 1900s, as an electric environment and culture surrounding soccer welcomed itself into the city. From some of the earliest soccer teams and games being played to one of the newest MLS expansion teams, this city has become one with the sport of soccer. 

Soccer in St. Louis is way more than just a sport; it is a community that builds relationships and skills for life. Whether it’s playing for your local CYC team, wearing the green and white jersey for Scott Gallagher, screaming your lungs out at Energizer Park on a Saturday night watching STL City take the pitch, playing in your first-ever district championship, or suiting up for the national team, this sport means so much more to this city than just a casual hobby.

With well over 30 professional soccer teams playing in St. Louis over the years, and as of 2020, 64 soccer players from St. Louis have played for the US National Team. St. Louis soccer has a rich and talented history when it comes to soccer at a national level as well. St. Louis is home for one of the world’s biggest sports and has one of the largest fanbases in the country when it comes to supporting their soccer teams.  Today, we look into the special moments and factors that have shaped St. Louis into a national hotbed for soccer.

The earliest games of organized soccer date back to 1881, when St. Louis amateur soccer was put together, and just like that, soccer in St. Louis started as amateur soccer became very popular. One different thing about these amateur soccer leagues in St. Louis is that many of these clubs were sponsored by churches and parishes, unlike other cities, where they were mostly associated with immigrant working communities. These churches and parishes really adopted soccer as a recreational sport, and after that, these teams and programs started receiving national recognition.

The Kensington’s won the very first two championships in the St. Louis Soccer League, with Blue Bell’s and St. Teresa’s winning the next two. Then the league saw its very first powerhouse, St. Leo’s, which would go on to win the next nine championships between 1905 and 1914. St. Leo’s was associated with a church’s men’s organization. St. Leo’s was also the first St. Louis team to tour the East Coast, as they played multiple teams in New Jersey. Soccer in St. Louis grew fast in the early years of these amateur leagues. The local league then joined the United States Soccer Federation in 1918. 

After joining the Federation, St. Louis began to send teams to the US Open Cup in 1918, where they found success very early. In 1920, the Ben Millers won the Open Cup with a team made up of all St. Louis-born players. St. Louis professional teams found lots of success over the next decades as they would go on to win nine more US Open Cup Championships spread across five different teams. This success would carry on for many more years.

In 1950, the FIFA World Cup took place in Brazil, and a young United States team filled with amateur players faced off against a powerful and heavily favored England Team. In the end, the US managed to knock off England 1-0, and many deemed this game to be the biggest upset in World Cup history and it got the nickname “The Miracle On Grass.” Now, what does this have to do with St. Louis soccer? Five out of the eleven players were from St. Louis, and four of them reigned from the iconic St. Louis neighborhood and community, “The Hill”. This was a huge step for St. Louis soccer as it was the earliest success of St. Louis players on the world stage.

This amateur success in St. Louis carried on throughout the 1900’s but one thing that is still around today and is very successful started in 1959. That year, St. Louis University added men’s soccer as a varsity sport, and 1959 was also the same year the NCAA started holding a national championship tournament for soccer. The Billikens took immediate control as they won the championship in 1959, ‘60, ‘62, ‘63, and ‘65, establishing themselves as one of the earliest dynasties. SLU would continue to see success throughout the century as they would go on to win five more national championships and currently have the most championships amongst any college with ten. 

Current SLU men’s soccer head coach Kevin Kalish has seen an immense amount of growth in the sport over the years. Since Kalish’s playing time in St. Louis as a high schooler at St. Thomas Aquinas-Mercy High School, and his two college seasons at SLU, where he was an All-American, Kalish has seen tremendous growth on all levels.

Kalish and the Billikins had a very successful season where they won the Atlantic 10 conference championship, and made it all the way to the NCAA College Cup for the first time since 1997 . SLU features nine players from the St. Louis area, all contributing to the team’s success. Kalish credits the amazing home environment for such a strong season. 

“The St. Louis community loves soccer, and they love following winners, so they were very important to us at home games, as the sold-out crowds and such an amazing environment was really cool to play in front of,” said Kalish.

Jeff DiMaria played for the Billikins for 2 seasons, where he was a First Team All-American in 1999. DiMaria loved every second of playing for SLU, especially playing in St. Louis. 

“The best part about SLU was the number of local St. Louis players we had on the team, and they were key contributors on the team. Over half of our players had local ties to St Louis. We took pride in being from St. Louis and playing for our hometown,” Jeff DiMaria said.

Another important factor that contributes to the success of soccer in St. Louis has been soccer at the high school level. When MSHSAA started soccer in 1968 for boys and 1985 for girls, it became very popular. On the girls’ side, Incarnate Word Academy, St. Joseph’s Academy, and St. Dominic have the most state championships. While on the boys’ side, St. Thomas Aquinas-Mercy, CBC, and Rockhurst have the most state wins. The deep-rooted history in soccer led to a very popular high school fan base. St. Louis is also blessed to have one of the best high school soccer coaches in all of America. 

Terry Michler was the head coach of the CBC soccer team for 52 seasons. During his time there, he accumulated more than 1000 career wins and nine MSHSAA state championships. Making him the winningest coach in all of America for high school soccer. Also received four national coach of the year awards. Michler, who is an inductee of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame, the National Federation of State High School Hall of Fame, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Michler is a very well-decorated coach. Michler saw a large amount of growth in St. Louis soccer and Missouri soccer as a whole during his coaching time. 

“Things have changed considerably over the years, and club soccer has become the norm for youth sports. High school soccer has also grown. Where in the past there were 20 schools that played soccer, today there are more than 200 with four classes based on enrollment. In the past, high school soccer was almost exclusively St. Louis schools, Kansas City had a few, but not enough for a State-wide championship,” Coach Michler said.

Michler also looked back on his spectacular coaching career and how  much of a blessing it was to coach high school soccer in St. Louis at such a high level.

Not only did Michler gain recognition and respect nationally from other coaches and his peers. He also received a lot of praise from his own players. Jeff DiMaria graduated from CBC in 1995, where he was a two time all state selection before going off to SLU and eventually the MLS. DiMaria had nothing but praise for his former coach.

“He was one of the best coaches I had at any level of my career. He was way ahead of his time in that he studied a successful, attractive attacking football style from those Holland / Dutch / Netherlands teams,” DiMaria said.

These unique play styles Michler replicated made the Cadets a very strong force in Missouri Soccer for 50+ years.

Here at St. Dominic, we are blessed to have one of the best soccer programs in all of the state on both the boys’ and girls’ side. On the boys side, the Crusaders have five MSHSAA state championships and 11 final four appearances. On the girls’ side, St. Dominic has five State Championships and 11 Final four appearances as well. Most of this success came from long-time crusader head coach Greg Koeller, who has been the head coach since 2001. Koeller, who has more than 800 career wins, is a member of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame and was the 2021 United States Soccer Coaches Girls National Coach Of  The Year. Koeller has enjoyed every moment of coaching soccer in St. Louis.

St. Dominic’s winning program sets up student athletes for the future while providing the opportunity to represent your school. One alumni who loved playing for the Crusaders was class of 2025 graduate Grace Luedde. Luedde, who now plays soccer at Iowa State, was a four-year starter for the Crusaders, where she helped lead them to a State Championship her freshman year. Luedde loved the chance to represent her school at a statewide level. 

“Playing for St. Dominic soccer means something special. It means a lot to be able to wear a jersey with a logo that represents all of the amazing teams that have played before us. We represent a winning program, which means a lot,” Luedde said.

Koeller has been around soccer his whole life, especially In St. Louis, where he has seen a tremendous amount of growth over the years. Soccer continues to grow in St. Louis at the high school level. This was one of the main reasons Koeller helped create the St. Louis High School Soccer Champions League. 

“When making the Champions League, we wanted to create an energetic environment where the best high school teams in St. Louis are playing and where the fans can enjoy watching soccer. We wanted to bring back an aura to high school soccer,” Koeller said.

Not only does St. Dominic produce statewide talent, but they have also produced national talent. Class of 2006 alum Tim Ream has made a name for himself playing on the US men’s national team, where he has played since 2010, then getting the call up to play in the 2022 World Cup, and started all four games for the US, where he provided a leadership role as the oldest member of the team. 

Another notable alum of St. Dominic who has found success at the national level is Josh Sargent. Although he did not end up graduating from St. Dominic as he moved to Florida to compete at an elite soccer academy. Sargent was also a part of the 2022 US World Cup team. These two have been very big accomplishments for the St. Dominic community, as they have represented the Crusaders at a national level for years.

Another big factor that came to St. Louis in the 80’s. When the indoor soccer wave started, the St. Louis Steamers joined the Major Indoor Soccer League. The Steamers incorporated local talent with a sense of entertainment as well. They would use loud music and energetic intros to bring in fans. Then, in 1988, the Steamers would fold, leaving St. Louis without an indoor team for only a year when the Storm would join in 1989. The Storm then folded in 1992, before the Tulsa franchise came into St. Louis and gave us the Ambush. The Ambush provided fans with another electric soccer environment. Then the Ambush would fold in 2000. 

In 2013, the St. Louis Ambush would make their return to indoor soccer in St. Louis as they began to play in the Family Arena in St. Charles. While the Ambush haven’t been very successful since coming to St. Louis, as they have had only one winning season since 2013, but at its peak attendance the Ambush would bring in 5000 fans a night. 

The biggest accomplishment of St. Louis Soccer happened on October 19th, 2019, when the MLS announced that St. Louis would be getting the newest expansion team for the league. This expansion had been years in the making, starting all the way back in the 1900’s. This new expansion team was named “City”. A perfect name for an expansion team coming to such a dynamic soccer city in St. Louis. Truly representing the amazing culture and history that St. Louis soccer represents. 

This new soccer team showed how much love this city has for soccer. As Energizer Park is constantly at max capacity for home games. While the performance of the team hasn’t been all that good since their inaugural season, the city of St.Louis still continues to show their support. 

Growing up, soccer has always been in my life. As my grandpa is a member of the St. Louis Soccer Hall Of Fame, my uncle Jeff played at SLU and CBC, and now his kids have been very successful playing soccer as well. So soccer has always been special to me, even though I may not play anymore. Watching soccer in St. Louis has really opened my eyes to the community that this city has for such an amazing sport. No matter what level it may be, there are always people who love to watch the sport. 

One of my most memorable memories from watching soccer in St. Louis. It was June 11, 2019, and St. Louis FC, who was a second division USL team at the time, was set to play MLS club Chicago Fire in a match for the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup held at Lindenwood. As a 12-year-old at the time, I was very excited for this game, knowing that the Chicago Fire was a very strong MLS team, and I loved watching St. Louis play. The game was electric as St. Louis pulled off a huge upset, beating the Fire 2-1. 

This game really opened my eyes as a soccer fan in St. Louis, as the stadium was full with everyone supporting the FC, really showing how strong the fan base is because the FC was just a second division team. Really showing how strong the community in St. Louis is. Moments like this helped lead to the expansion of St. Louis City coming to the MLS. Showing how this amazing community in St. Louis led to the development of soccer in St. Louis.

Soccer in St. Louis isn’t just a sport. It builds character and builds relationships. SLU soccer player Jack DiMaria reflects on his amateur career in St. Louis where he played for Scott Gallagher and also City’s academy team.

St. Louis, not only just the gateway to the west, but also a national hotbed for soccer. Where people build relationships and connections through a sport that makes people feel like family. Soccer in St. Louis will forever be special.