Atlanta Chiefs

Infobox Football club
clubname = Atlanta Chiefs


fullname = Atlanta Chiefs
nickname =
shortname =
founded = 1967 (reformed in 1979)
dissolved = 1973, 1981
ground = Atlanta Fulton County Stadium
Tara Stadium
capacity = 50,000 (Atlanta)
10,000 (Tara)
chairman =
mgrtitle =
manager =
league =North American Soccer League
season =
position =
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffff

The Atlanta Chiefs were a soccer team based out of Atlanta, Georgia that played in the NPSL and NASL from 1967 to 1972. Their home fields were Atlanta Stadium (1967-1969, 1971-1972) and Tara Stadium (1970). The Atlanta Chiefs were the brainchild of Dick Cecil, then Vice President of the Atlanta Braves, the MLB baseball franchise who were the Chiefs' owners. Cecil was intrigued with the 1966 World Cup in England and decided that a professional soccer team would add valuable events for Atlanta Stadium. Cecil was in charge of such as concerts including the Beatles. Cecil proceeded to travel through Europe and Africa signing players including Kaizer Motaung as well as Phil Woosnam, Vic Crowe, Peter McParland of Aston Villa. Kaizer Chiefs FC, currently active club in the South African Premier Soccer League was founded by former Chiefs player, Kaizer Motaung, deriving their name and logo from that of the Atlanta Chiefs.

Atlanta won the NASL championship in its second season of existence in 1968 after competing in the NPSL, one of the two leagues that merged to create the NASL, the previous year. In that same year, the Chiefs twice beat Manchester City after the English Division One side's manager Malcolm Allison described the local talent as "Fourth Division" standard.

Although they never fielded any of the top stars in the league as so many other clubs did, the Atlanta team did produce one of the most important figures in the league history. Phil Woosnam went from the bench as head coach of the Chiefs to the boardroom as the commissioner of the league. He presided over the most critical period in NASL history, the season of 1969 when both attendance and the number of clubs dropped dramatically. He saw the league through to its golden years in the late 1970's when aging stars from around the world played televised matches in packed stadiums across the country.

Following the 1968 NASL season, the league was in trouble with ten franchises having folded. The 1969 season was split into two halves. The first half was called the International Cup, a double round robin tournament in which the remaining NASL clubs were represented by teams imported from the United Kingdom. The Chiefs were represented by Aston Villa. The team tied for third in the Cup with a 2-4-2 record. For the second half of the 1969 season, the teams returned to their normal rosters and played a 16 game schedule with no playoffs.

While the Chiefs were one of only a few clubs to survive that critical 1969 season, they lasted only a few more years. The club renamed itself the Atlanta Apollos after it was sold to the owners of the Atlanta Hawks in 1973 and played at Bobby Dodd Stadium that season.

The Atlanta Chiefs name and logo (altered slightly) were revived in 1979 when the Colorado Caribous franchise moved to Atlanta, with Cecil and Ted Turner as owners. The team again played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for three seasons and also at Omni Coliseum for two NASL Indoor seasons until folding after the 1981 season. Players for the Atlanta Chiefs were Adrian Brooks, Mark MacKain, Mark Jakobowski, Tony Whelan, Carl Strong, Webster Lichaba, Jomo Sono, Bruce Savage, Louis and George Nanchoff.

Year-by-year

Outdoors

Indoors

Honors

NASL Championships
* 1968

Division Titles
* 1968 Atlantic Division
* 1971 Southern Division
* 1981 Southern Division

Coach of the Year
* 1968 Phil Woosnam

Rookie of the Year
* 1968 Kaizer Motaung

All-Star First Team Selections
* 1967 Emment Kapengwe
* 1969 Emment Kapengwe, Kaizer Motaung
* 1970 Uriel daVeiga, Dave Metchick, Art Welch
* 1971 Kaizer Motaung
* 1972 Paul Child
* 1981 Brian Kidd

All-Star Second Team Selections
* 1968 John Cocking, Vic Rouse
* 1970 Ray Bloomfield, John Cocking, Delroy Scott
* 1971 John Cocking, Uriel daVeiga
* 1972 Art Welch

All-Star Honorable Mentions
* 1971 Mike Hoban, Manfred Kammerer, Barry Lynch, Freddie Mwila
* 1972 John Cocking, Mike Hoban
* 1973 Paul Child

Head Coaches

* Phil Woosnam 1967 - 1968
* Vic Rouse 1969 - 1972
* Ken Bracewell 1973
* Dan Wood 1979 - 1980
* David Chadwick 1980 - 1981

Players

*flagicon|England Brian Alderson (1980-81)
*flagicon|England Jeff Bourne (1979-80) [http://home.att.net/~nasl/players.htm#B]
*flagicon|Wales Vic Crowe (1967-1969)
*flagicon|Trinidad and Tobago Everald Cummings (1967-1970)
*flagicon|ENG David Irving (1980) [http://home.att.net/~nasl/players.htm#I]
*flagicon|England Brian Kidd (1981) 29 apps 23 goals
*flagicon|ENG Colin Waldron (1979) [http://home.att.net/~nasl/players.htm#W]
*flagicon|ENG Tony Whelan (1980-81) [http://home.att.net/~nasl/players.htm#W]
*flagicon|USA Mark Jakobowski (1980-81)
*flagicon|SCO Walker McCall (1980) [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player2/walkermccall.htm]
* Kaizer Motaung

Yearly Average Attendance

* 1967 - 6,961
* 1968 - 5,794
* 1969 - 3,371
* 1970 - 3,002
* 1971 - 4,275
* 1972 - 5,034
* 1973 - 3,317
* 1979 - 7,350
* 1980 - 4,884
* 1981 - 6,189