Vedad Ibisevic kicks off the Bundesliga season with a bang, scoring the game’s first goal in the 16th minute and last goal in the 76th minute as newly promoted 1899 Hoffenheim beats Energie Cottbus, 3-0.

The St. Louis Stars reach the NASL championship game with a 2-0 semifinal victory over the Rochester Lancers at Busch Stadium. Englishman John Sewell and St. Louisan Gene Geimer score.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch breaks the news that St. Louis will be awarded a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.

After studying 6,000 fan suggestions, St. Louis’s new MLS team christens itself St. Louis CITY SC. “SC” carries a double meaning: “Soccer Club” and “Soccer Capital.”

In his first appearance for the U.S. National Team, future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Al Trost (right) scores on an assist from fellow St. Louisan and St. Louis Stars teammate Gene Geimer (left) as the United States surprises 1972 Olympic champion Poland, 1-0, in a friendly in New Britain, Conn.

The St. Louis Steamers add St. Louisan Perry Van Der Beck, the 1985 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, but lose their 1986-87 most valuable player, St. Louisan Mark Frederickson (pictured), on waivers.

A gathering of 54,184, at the time the largest ever for a soccer match in Missouri, sees Real Madrid defeat Inter Milan, 3-0, at the Edward Jones Dome.

St. Louis native Becky Sauerbrunn plays the final 10 minutes plus added time in the USA’s 2-1 victory over Japan in the women’s soccer gold medal match at the 2012 Olympics.

St. Louis is one of nine cities announced as homes of franchises for the new National Professional Soccer League, which will begin play in 1967. The NPSL will merge with the United Soccer Association in December 1967 to form the North American Soccer League.

Casey Frankiewicz leads the St. Louis Stars to an important 3-1 NASL win over the Kansas City Spurs. Frankiewicz, the Stars’ leading scorer, knocks in the game’s first goal. The outcome evens the Stars’ record at 10-10-5 and keeps them alive in the race for a playoff berth.

A new professional indoor soccer team in St. Louis with an old name — the Steamers — loses its first game, 8-5, to the Arizona Thunder at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

St. Louisan Julie King sets the Boston Breakers’ record for most games played. A defender, she plays 95 games for the Breakers through the 2017 season. She will end her NWSL career in 2020 with 97 games played, third-most of any St. Louisan.

The foreign-player-laden Kansas City Spurs, who will go on to win the league championship, get a scare from the mostly St. Louis lineup of the St. Louis Stars before prevailing, 3-1, in an oddly structured 1969 North American Soccer League season.

Soccer pioneer and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Tom Cahill (pictured), who spent his early life in St. Louis and profoundly influenced the growth of the sport there, strikes a major blow against the U.S. Football Association (today’s U.S. Soccer Federation). Cahill convinces one of the nation’s two major professional leagues, the American Soccer League of the eastern United States, to follow the lead of the St. Louis League and pull out of the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup).

Kutis ties St. Andres of Detroit, 2-2, to win its fourth straight U.S. Amateur Cup. The two-game series is decided on goal differential. Kutis won the opener, 5-0, July 25.

The year-old Major Indoor Soccer League awards a franchise to St. Louis. The team has a name (the Steamers), a logo designed by Bill McDermott, an owner (Marvin Mann of New Jersey), a general manager (Steve Weaver, former PR director of the NASL’s St. Louis Stars), and a home (the Checkerdome) — but no players and no coach.

Fire and Ice Soccer Club of Belleville, Ill., wins the Women’s Premier Soccer League title with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Gulf Coast Texans in Norco, Calif. Kelsey Dinges (pictured) scores both goals.

The opening ceremonies for the first summer Olympics since 1936 include five soccer players from St. Louis in the parade of all Olympic athletes at London’s Wembley Stadium: Bob Annis, Ray Beckman, Bill Bertani, Charley Colombo and Gino Pariani. St. Louisan Justin Keenoy is a referee for the Olympic soccer tournament.

J.B. Marine becomes the first and only St. Louis team to win the U-19 national soccer championship for girls by defeating Fairfax, Va., in the final in Omaha, Neb. The game is decided on penalty kicks after overtime ends in a 2-2 draw.

Mark Filla’s 51st-minute goal propels Scott Gallagher of St. Louis to a 1-0 win in the final of the McGuire U-19 Cup over Philadelphia’s F.C. Delco in Indianapolis.