Soccer is the fourth most popular sport in the United States behind American football, basketball, and baseball. The United States Soccer Federation USSF governs most levels of soccer in the United States, including the national teams, professional leagues, and amateur leagues, being the highest soccer authority in the country.
As of May [update] , over The highest-level of men's professional soccer in the U. MLS has the most teams of any first-division professional soccer league in the world. With an average attendance of over 20, per game, MLS has the third-highest average attendance of any sports league in the U.
The first women's professional soccer league in the U. In the United States, the sport of association football is mainly referred to as "soccer", as the term "football" is primarily used to refer to the sport of American football. There has been some debate about the origins of modern soccer in the United States.
It has long been held that the modern game entered the States through Ellis Island in the s. However, research has shown that soccer entered America through the port of New Orleans , as Irish, English, Scottish, Italian and German immigrants brought the game with them. It was in New Orleans that many of the first games of soccer in America were held.
It is difficult to say for sure which country was the true origin. Oneida Football Club has been named as the first association football club in the United States but there is still discussion on what rules the club used, and it broke up within the space of a few years. On the other hand, in , Princeton and Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game.
