However, the concurrence of the UEFA/CONMEBOL-endorsed Intercontinental Cup, launched also in 1960, nullified any possibility that the League might have relevance as a club world championship.

[1] In 1960, William D. Cox, a wealthy U.S. businessman and former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, a U.S. baseball team, saw a potential market in the United States for top-level soccer.

Traditionally, tours by European clubs in the northeast United States had drawn well and Cox decided to pursue this approach.

While the games were initially played in the New York metropolitan area, as interest in the ISL increased, he expanded the league to Chicago, Detroit, Boston and Los Angeles.

Cox was forced to fold the ISL, but sued USSFA in federal court for anti-trust violations, a suit he eventually won.

[3] While the ISL played its last season in 1965, the model was used again in 1967 when the United Soccer Association (USA) imported foreign teams to populate its league and again in 1969 when the North American Soccer League (NASL) used imported teams for the first half of its season.