Today, Americans are celebrating Independence Day.
It was 4 July 1776, exactly 248 years ago, when the Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence and establish the United States of America. Nearly two-and-a-half centuries on, the Fourth of July is now a federal holiday celebrated with fireworks, parades and spending time with families.
Of course, in 1776, West Ham United FC was still over 100 years from being formed, and the Fourth of July is closely associated with baseball, rather than association football. However, the sport Americans know as soccer is now hugely popular in the United States, with over 20 million players, thriving professional leagues, and the country hosting both the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup finals.
This summer, the US is hosting the men’s Copa América, and the States will host the men’s FIFA World Cup for the second time in 2026.
West Ham United have been part of America’s football story, too, and will write another chapter when head coach Julen Lopetegui takes his squad to Florida for a 17-day, two-match Sunshine State Tour later in July in preparation for the 2024/25 season.
As Americans celebrate Independence Day, we look back on the Hammers’ historic links to the US of A…
USMNT
West Ham United have had two men’s players capped by the United States’ Men’s National Team (USMNT) while playing in Claret and Blue.
The first was New Jersey native John Harkes, who played a dozen games for the Hammers, on loan from Premier League rivals Derby County, during the 1995/96 season.
Midfielder Harkes played collegiately for the Virginia Cavaliers and then professionally for Albany Capitals in the days before the formation of Major League Soccer (MLS), before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to join English First Division club Sheffield Wednesday, for whom won the Football League Cup in 1991 and became the first American to score at Wembley in the 1993 defeat by Arsenal in the final of the same competition.
Already a USMNT regular and ultimately capped 90 times, including at the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals on home turf, Harkes spent two seasons with Derby County before returning home for the launch of MLS in the summer of 1995. However, when its start was delayed, Harkes was loaned to West Ham, debuting in a 1-0 Premier League win at former club Sheffield Wednesday in October 1995 and playing 12 times as Harry Redknapp’s side finished tenth. Harkes then returned to MLS, where he spent seven seasons with DC United, New England Revolution and Columbus Crew. He now works in the media.
The second USMNT player to turn out for West Ham was the versatile Illinois-born Jonathan Spector, who joined from Manchester United in 2006.
Initially signed by the Red Devils from MLS club Chicago Fire at the age of 17 in 2003, Spector played eight times for Sir Alex Ferguson and spent the 2005/06 season on loan at Charlton Athletic before moving to east London.
Usually a defender, the most famous of Spector’s 115 appearances for West Ham was on the snowy evening of 30 November 2010, when he was fielded in central midfield and scored two unlikely goals in a 4-0 Football League Cup quarter-final victory over his former club, Manchester United, at the Boleyn Ground.
Spector departed following relegation in summer 2011, played for six seasons at Birmingham City, then completed his career in MLS with Orlando City. Capped 36 times by the USMNT, and a CONCACAF Gold Cup winner in 2007, he has since worked in international scouting and recruitment for MLS club Atlanta United.
Stateside visits
West Ham United have been semi-regular visitors to North America over the past 60-plus years, playing in a variety of tournaments and challenge matches in that time.
We were regular visitors to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, when Ron Greenwood’s side took part in the International Soccer League (ISL), becoming the only English team to win the competition in 1963 by defeating Polish opponents Górnik Zabrze in a two-legged final at the Polo Grounds in New York City. The same summer, the Irons were defeated by Czechoslovakians Dukla Prague in the American Challenge Cup.
Fresh from winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup, Greenwood’s Hammers took part in the ISL again in 1965, but this time won just one of six matches to finish bottom of their group.
The Hammers also took on Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first soccer match to be played indoors at the newly completed Houston Astrodome in Texas in April 1967, losing 3-2 in front of a crowd of 33,351.
In 1969, West Ham players represented the Baltimore Bays in the North American Soccer League (NASL) International Cup, playing eight matches against teams formed of players from four other British clubs and finishing second. Aston Villa were the Atlanta Chiefs, Dundee United were Dallas Tornado, Wolverhampton Wanderers were Kansas City Spurs and Kilmarnock were St Louis Stars!
Next, Bobby Moore captained West Ham as they drew 2-2 with Pelé’s Santos of Brazil at Downing Stadium in Randall’s Island in New York State in November 1970 (you can watch video highlights above). Greenwood’s squad returned to the United States for a whistle-stop eleven-match tour in May/June 1971 that included visits to Denver, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston and New York, too!
It would be 37 years until the Hammers crossed the Atlantic again in 2008, when Alan Curbishley’s side defeated MLS opponents Columbus Crew 3-1 in Ohio on a tour that also saw the Londoners face David Beckham’s MLS All-Stars in Toronto, Canada.
West Ham’s most-recent trip to the US was in 2016, when Slaven Bilić’s Irons tackled MLS side Seattle Sounders in Washington State, then took on USL club Carolina Railhawks (now North Carolina FC) during a two-match pre-season tour.
Seattle Sounders
Speaking of the Seattle Sounders, West Ham share history with the now-MLS club, with several players having represented both at various points in their career.
Harry Redknapp appeared more than 150 times for West Ham during his playing career before going on to manage the club from 1994-2001, with the east London native also plying his trade for the then- North American Soccer League Sounders from 1977-79.
West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst made 23 appearances for the Sounders during the 1976 NASL season alongside fellow former Hammers and England great Bobby Moore, who represented the Sounders seven times during the 1978 NASL campaign.
Full-back Tyrone Mears had a short spell in Claret and Blue in 2006/07 before later spending two seasons with the Sounders between 2014-16, winning the MLS Cup in December 2016. Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who also had a single season in east London in 2007/08, joined the Sounders in 2009 and won that year’s US Open Cup.
Among the other one-time Hammers who have played in the MLS were Nigel Reo-Coker, Ravel Morrison, Sebastian Lletget, Shaka Hislop, Ian Bishop, Frank Lampard, Javier Hernández, Paulo Wanchope, Doneil Henry, Winston Reid, Robbie Keane, Antonio Nocerino, Ashley Fletcher, Guillermo Franco, Xande Silva and Laurent Courtois, while David Cross and Joe Cole played in the NASL for Vancouver Whitecaps and Tampa Bay Rowdies respectively.
Concentrating on the NASL, the late West Ham striker Phil Woosnam (1959-62) emigrated to the United States in 1966, before becoming head coach of the United States national team in 1968.
The Welshman was later appointed Commissioner of the NASL from 1969-83 and is credited as an important figure in the development of the sport in the 1970s.
