NOTE: I’ll have to tweak this to make it more accurate. While it IS true this NASL is far more American than the previous one, at least some of the players listed as being foreign nationals were either actually born here or grew up here. The lesson, as always, is to hell with Wikipedia.

Inspired by something a friend mentioned over the weekend about his perceived paucity of American players in the current iteration of the North American Soccer League, I thought I would check to see just how American our second division league really is.

I had previously looked at the American quotient in the original league (which played from 1967-1984 and had varying quotas for North Americans in an effort to build up domestic players) and found that about 20% of the players in three “snapshot” seasons were US-born, and that about 14 percent of the minutes played in 1982 went to Americans.

Using the list of players at NASL.com (which lists games, starts, minutes played and a few other stats, but may not have been updated through this weekend’s games) and team rosters, I studied how many Americans were on each of the league’s 11 teams, and how much they played.

Going strictly by the league-provided list, about 42% of players in the NASL have US citizenship (or “soccer citizenship” , and about 47% of the players on the nine US-based teams are American. (I don’t really expect the two Canadian teams, Edmonton and Ottawa, to have a lot of Yanks on their rosters.) But 31 of the 115 players in question have played fewer than 90 minutes (basically, less than a game) and 14 haven’t played at all. (Some are on loan to other clubs, both in USL and MLS.) A total of 29 US players have been on the field for at least 1000 minutes this season (about 11 games’ worth, basically).

The breakdown is after the jump.

AMERICANS IN THE NASL, 2015 Club # US Other Pct. US US Min Total Min Pct. US Starts US Starts US Start Pct. Atlanta 25 9 16 36.0% 7,257 17,903 40.5% 199 81 40.7% Carolina 27 18 9 66.7% 10,969 17,768 61.7% 198 121 61.1% Edmonton 26 4 22 15.4% 2,986 18,909 15.8% 209 33 15.8% Ft. Lauderdale 27 12 15 44.4% 5,723 17,697 32.3% 197 65 33.0% Indianapolis 25 16 9 64.0% 10,851 16,501 65.8% 183 120 65.6% Jacksonville 26 7 19 26.9% 1,202 17,872 6.7% 198 13 6.6% Minnesota 23 13 10 56.5% 8,576 16,724 51.3% 185 92 49.7% New York 24 10 14 41.7% 6,058 16,716 36.2% 186 68 36.6% Ottawa 22 4 18 18.2% 3,702 17,510 21.1% 194 39 20.1% San Antonio 23 6 17 26.1% 3,423 16,021 21.4% 179 36 20.1% Tampa Bay 28 16 12 57.1% 6,609 16,844 39.2% 187 72 38.5% NASL TOTAL 276 115 161 41.7% 67,356 190,465 35.4% 2,115 740 35.0% US Teams Only 228 107 121 46.9% 60,668 154,046 39.4% 1,712 668 39.0%

A few notes:

I am not sure the league-provided list of stats is 100% accurate, as there’s no reason Atlanta should have 199 player starts and Carolina should have 198, given each team starts each game with 11 players (only four of the teams have start totals evenly divisible by 11). But it’s good enough for our snapshot.

I would have expected the two Canadian clubs to be the “least American,” but in terms of playing time, Jacksonville leads the league in lowest percentage of minutes and starts by Americans. Only defender Matt Bahner is what you’d call a regular. The Armada has six Argentines, a Colombian, an Englishman, a Guinean, a Haitian and a Mexican who play big roles, but only the one American.

is what you’d call a regular. The Armada has six Argentines, a Colombian, an Englishman, a Guinean, a Haitian and a Mexican who play big roles, but only the one American. The Carolina Railhawks and Indy Eleven are the “most American” teams in the league, with 66.7% and 64% American players, 62% and 66% of their minutes going to Americans and 61% and 66% of their starts going to US players.

US players logging the most league minutes are Rauwshan McKenzie and Michael Reed of Atlanta, Ottawa’s Ryan Richter, Minnesota’s Justin Davis, Fort Lauderdale’s Frankie Sanfilippo, and Neil Hlavaty and Connor Tobin of Carolina.

Americans in the NASL with 1,000+ Minutes Played, 2015 Last First Pos. Team GP GS Min McKenzie Rauwshan D ATL 19 19 1,710 Reed Michael M ATL 18 18 1,620 Richter Ryan D OTT 18 18 1,620 Davis Justin D MNU 18 18 1,619 Sanfilippo Frankie D FTL 18 18 1,615 Hlavaty Neil M CAR 18 18 1,601 Tobin Connor D CAR 18 17 1,588 Maurer Jimmy G NYC 17 17 1,530 Pitchkolan Aaron M MNU 18 16 1,493 Knight Wes D CAR 16 16 1,440 Franco Marco D IND 16 16 1,427 Mendes Carlos D NYC 16 16 1,419 VanOekel Matt G FCE 16 15 1,395 Venegas Kevin D MNU 16 16 1,373 King Darnell D TBR 17 15 1,364 Sweat Ben D TBR 15 15 1,350 Szetela Daniel M NYC 17 14 1,217 Albadawi Nazmi M CAR 15 14 1,179 Mares Dylan M IND 14 13 1,168 Rugg Charlie F IND 16 12 1,131 Hertzog Corey F TBR 17 12 1,126 Gorskie Hunter D NYC 14 12 1,087 Ramirez Christian F MNU 18 11 1,065 Bahner Matt D JAX 12 12 1,054 Chávez Jaime F ATL 17 12 1,037 Wagner Blake D CAR 16 11 1,025 Janicki Greg D IND 12 11 1,018 Hyland Kyle D IND 12 11 1,010 Smith Johann D FCE 12 12 1,002

How the NASL compares to the other men’s pro outdoor leagues, MLS and the USL, in terms of opportunities for American players is a question still to be looked into. (Both leagues have limits on the number of international roster spots – 120 total for the 20 MLS teams, seven per team on USL sides, which would surely drive up the percentage of rostered Americans.) And it makes sense that a league today would rely more on Americans than a league in the 1970s and early 1980s, because we were way behind in terms of producing professional-level soccer talent back then.

But it seems clear that this NASL is far more American than the original, and that’s a good thing.

EDIT TO ADD: My man Nicholas Murray points out that NASL clubs are limited to seven non-domestic players, which is strange given every single team on that list above has more than seven. But the rule is:

Domestic Players: Domestic players for teams located in the United States are a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status). Domestic players for teams located in Canada are a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a landed immigrant (non-Canadian citizen permanent resident) or a player who qualifies as a domestic player in the United States.

International Players: Each team may list up to 7 non-domestic players on its master roster.

I’ll have to look more deeply into this, another day.

EDIT TO ADD: At least some of the “foreign players” on Jacksonville’s roster were born overseas, but grew up in the US. Jemal Johnson for one, who does start for the Armada, was born in New Jersey but his parents moved to England when he was young, while Ramak Safi, Joseph Toby and Nurdin Hrustic grew up in the Jacksonville area.