The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club was formed in 1974 when the North American Soccer League (NASL), itself founded in 1968, granted a franchise to a Washington, D.C. based business group. The team played all their home games at RFK Stadium in 1974, but in 1975 and 1976 they played most of their games at W.T. Woodson High School in Northern Virginia, including all of their 1976 games. They played indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. Armory.[1][2] After a lackluster beginning to the franchise, the Diplomats qualified for the playoffs and increased average game attendance in each of their last three years of existence. Additionally, in their final year, the Diplomats were able to sign the future European Player of the Century Johan Cruyff. After the 1980 season the Diplomats folded when then owner, the Madison Square Garden Corp., had accumulated losses of $6 million and team president Steve Danzansky could not gather enough money to keep the team alive.[3]

After the original Diplomats folded following the 1980 season, the Detroit Express moved to Washington to become the new Diplomats. This team only lasted for one season.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of players who played at least one league match for the Diplomats.

Key

Regular season players

NameCountryPositionYearsNotes
Joseph Agyemang-Gyau  Ghana MF 1974 –
Sonny Askew  United States FW 1977-80 –
Mike Bakić  Canada MF 1978-79 –
Petar Baralić  Yugoslavia MF/FW 1981 –
Mike Barry  Wales MF 1975 –
Ivan Belfiore  Canada DF 1981 –
Barney Boyce  United States DF/MF 1980 –
David Bradford  England MF 1981 –
Jim Brown  Scotland GK 1981 –
Paul Cannell  England FW 1976, 78-79, 81 –
Peter Carr  England DF 1981 –
Clive Clarke  England MF 1974 –
Eddie Colquhoun  Scotland DF 1981 –
Tony Crescitelli  United States FW 1979-80 –
Johan Cruyff  Netherlands FW 1979-81 –
Benny Dargle  England DF 1981 –
Gary Darrell  Bermuda DF/MF 1974-80 –
Windsor del Llano  Bolivia MF 1974 –
Leroy DeLeon  Trinidad and Tobago FW 1974-77 –
Mike Dillon  England DF 1978-79 –
Don Droege  United States DF 1979-80 –
Roy Ellam  England DF 1976 –
Trevor Franklin  England DF 1981 –
Sepp Gantenhammer  United States GK 1978 –
Randy Garber  United States MF 1977-78 –
Ray Graydon  England MF 1978 –
Alan Green  United States FW 1977, 79-80 –
Bertrand Grell  Trinidad and Tobago MF 1974-75 –
Clive Haywood  England FW 1981 –
Trevor Hebberd  England MF 1978 –
Guus Hiddink  Netherlands MF 1978 –
Kenny Hill  England DF 1977 –
Randy Horton  Bermuda FW 1975 –
József Horváth  Hungary MF 1979-80 –
Robert Iarusci  Canada DF 1979-80 –
Gerry Ingram  England FW 1975-76 –
Bill Irwin  Northern Ireland GK 1978-80 –
Wim Jansen  Netherlands DF/MF 1980, 81 –
Derek Jefferson  England DF 1976 –
Ross Jenkins  England FW 1981 –
John Kerr Sr.  Canada MF 1976-77 –
Kurt Kuykendall  United States GK 1974, 78 –
Mike Lester  England MF 1977 –
Kevin Lewis  England MF 1974 –
Mark Liveric  United States FW 1977 –
Juan Lozano  Spain MF 1980 –
Alain Maca  United States DF 1974-76 –
Tony Macken  Ireland DF 1976-77 –
Carmine Marcantonio  Canada MF 1978-80 –
Eric Martin  Scotland GK 1975-79 –
Andries Maseko  South Africa MF 1978-80 –
Don McAllister  England DF 1977 –
Tommy McConville  Ireland DF 1974-76 –
Charlie McCully  United States FW 1976 –
David McGill  Canada MF 1981 –
Ane Mihailovich  United States DF/FW 1978-79 –
Ole Mikkelsen  United States FW 1981 –
Gus Moffat  Scotland MF 1981 –
Ken Murphy  United States DF/MF 1981 –
Donato Nardiello  Wales FW 1981 –
Ney Marques de Sousa  Brazil MF 1974 –
Tommy O'Hara  United States MF 1978-80 –
Alex Pringle  Scotland DF 1977-78 –
Dragan Radovich  Yugoslavia GK 1979-80 –
Jimmy Redfern  England MF 1977 –
Thomas Rongen  Netherlands MF/FW 1980 –
George Ross  Scotland DF 1974 –
Peter Silvester  England FW 1977 –
Maurice Slater  Ireland DF 1974 –
Alan Spavin  England MF 1974-75 –
Jim Steele  Scotland DF 1977-80 –
Bob Stetler  United States GK 1977-79 –
Bobby Stokes  England FW 1978-80 –
George Taratsides  Greece GK/FW 1974-75 –
Peter Thomas  Ireland GK 1975 –
Trevor Thompson  England DF 1976 –
Art Welch  Jamaica FW 1977, 80 –
Heinz Wirtz  West Germany DF 1981 –
Robbie Zipp  United States DF/MF 1981 –

By nationality

Country Number of
players
 Bermuda 2
 Bolivia 1
 Brazil 1
 Canada 6
 England 23
 West Germany 1
 Ghana 1
 Greece 1
 Hungary 1
 Ireland 4
 Jamaica 1
 Netherlands 4
 Northern Ireland 1
 Scotland 7
 South Africa 1
 Spain 1
 Trinidad and Tobago 2
 United States 17
 Wales 2
 Yugoslavia 2

References

  1. ↑ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  2. ↑ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  3. ↑ Feinstein, John (December 9, 1980). "Death of the Diplomats". Washington Post. p. D1.
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