Chicago Croatian

Chicago Croatian was an American soccer club based in Chicago Illinois. The club competed in the semi-professioal National Soccer League of Chicago. All there home matches were played in Hanson Stadium Chicago Illinois.

The club was founded in the 1950s and is historically the most successful Croatian soccer club in the USA. The height of Croatians success came in the 1970s and 1980s making the final of the prestigious National Challenge Cup on three occasions. They qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 1975 and 1980 but withdrew from the competition they participated in the 1985 CONCACAF Champions Cup and were knocked out of the competition in the 1st round by the Honduras champion Club Deportivo Olimpia . The 1st leg was played in San Pedro Sula and the 2nd leg in Tegucigalpa Honduras the attendance was over 40,000 spectators for each match.

Honours

• National Challenge Cup
• Finalists (3): 1974,1979,1984
• Semi-finalist : 1985
• National Soccer League of Chicago
• Champions (2):1971,1973 : No records kept 1974 thru 1986
• Peel Cup Illinois State Cup
• Champions (4): 1973,1976,1978,1986
• Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament
• Champions (6): 1968,1975,1976,1977,1979,1986
• CONCACAF Champions Cup : Qualified 1975,1980, but withdrew from competition, participated in 1985
• 1985 1st round Honduras Central America

National Challenge Cup Results

• June 2, 1974 New York Greek American 2 Chicago Croatian 0
• June 17, 1979 Brooklyn Dodgers 2 Chicago Croatian 1
• June 24, 1984 New York Crete 4 Chicago Croatian 2

CONCACAF Champions Cup 1985

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managers

• Joe Tadijanovic
• Frano Basan