List of New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players

Backed by Ross's company, Warner Communications, the Cosmos became the league's strongest club, both on and off the field.

[2] The Cosmos' commercial and on-field success declined during the early 1980s, along with the NASL itself, and after the league folded in 1984 the club dissolved a year later.

[3] A new Cosmos team, formed in 2010,[4] is scheduled to begin play in the new second-tier North American Soccer League (contested since 2011) during the 2013 season.

Including the United States and Canada, a total of 34 nations from across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa were represented on the team's rosters over the course of its history.

Some well-known players from other teams turned out for the Cosmos in exhibition matches on a game-by-game basis when New York traveled on overseas tours.

The Cosmos before playing a friendly match v. Club Cipolletti in Argentina, March 1980. Giorgio Chinaglia (9), Franz Beckenbauer (6) and Carlos Alberto Torres (5) were part of the line up
Pelé is the only player to have his number retired when the team put his #10 out of circulation in 1977
Franz Beckenbauer with Argentine Diego Maradona in 1980
Giorgio Chinaglia , Cosmos' all-time leading scorer
A cropped profile shot of an older, white-haired man
Charlie Aitken , seen in 2006
A middle-aged, bespecatacled man smiles in front of a wall covered with New York Cosmos memorabilia
Ron Atanasio , pictured in 2010 with Cosmos memorabilia
Carlos Alberto Torres had two tenures on the Cosmos, 1977–80, and 1982
Mordechai Spiegler , right, pictured in 2008 with broadcaster Yoram Arbel
An out-of-focus portrait shot of a dark-haired man in a lime-green v-neck sweater
Władysław Żmuda , seen in 2007
A grey-haired man in a black suit and yellow tie looks to his right, a microphone marked "MSG" held to his mouth
Shep Messing , the Cosmos' goalkeeper from 1973 to 1974, then again from 1976 to 1977 and finally for three games in 1984, reports on a New York Red Bulls – Philadelphia Union match in 2010