Photo courtesy of the Cosmos
The Cosmos are back, playing their first match in USL League One against the Portland Hearts of Pine on Saturday. The organization has dropped New York from its name as a nod to its new home at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey.
“The first season is not easy, because everything is brand new,” head coach Davide Corti told amNewYork. “New people together need to know each other better, sometimes through hard times, sometimes with easy times.”
The Cosmos are a legendary name not just in American soccer, but across the globe as well. Names like Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, and Raúl Gonazalez have been associated with the team across two stints. The 1970s iteration saw record-breaking crowds at Giants Stadium, but suspended operations in 1985 following financial problems and the North American Soccer League’s demise.
The Cosmos returned to the New York City area in 2013 with the revived NASL, a second division in U.S. soccer under Major League Soccer. They won three NASL titles, for a total of seven, under then-coach Giovanni Savarese and then-COO Erik Stover, but made headlines for the antitrust lawsuit between the MLS and NASL, which was resolved in 2025.
Stover joined the side in 2012 and has played an important role in the Cosmos’ rebirth, serving as the Chief Executive Officer and co-owner. He worked with North Jersey Pro Soccer and other firms to restore the 7,800-seater stadium originally built in 1932, which used to host the New York Black Yankees of the Negro Leagues.
“[It’s a huge boost for us] to have a stadium to call our own, for it to be our home, for us to have access to do a lot of the community events and activations that we want to do,” Stover, the former Red Bull New York executive who brought Thierry Henry to the MLStold amNY. “There’s so much history, and this location is fantastic — all of that plays in very nicely for our long-term plan.”
Stover laid out five pillars that will set them up for “short-term and long-term success” — the stadium, the USL and its upcoming promotion/relegation systemthe upcoming 2026 World Cup in North America, identifying local New Jersey and New York talent, and lastly, the local community of Paterson, NJ.
The USL’s upcoming promotion and relegation system will be the first of its kind on American shores and will give the Cosmos a quantifiable gauge of progress over the next few seasons, while the World Cup will further bond the club with its community.
“None of us can afford tickets; there is no fan festivalso it gives us an opportunity to bring everybody together, put the game on a video board, and invite those people in and celebrate the tournament and the teams and the countries that they represent,” Stover said. “That’s a very community-oriented approach, and it will benefit us in the long run.”
Stover is working with former Manchester United player, Italian international, Cosmos head of soccer, and local New Jerseyan Giuseppe Rossi to identify local names they can help build ties with the community and promote the sport in the area.
Stover referenced the “expensive” ways young players who hope to make it professional need to be supported, and wants to “cast as wide a net as possible” to “identify those players and give them opportunities.”
It’s a far cry from the previously star-studded Cosmos rosters, but “our goal is to expand as wide as we can, as deep as we can, as fast as we can,” Stover said. “But we have to do it in a sensible, sustainable way that helps build the club and doesn’t put too much weight on it.”
“I think it’s something that’s really resonating with people already, because we really don’t have that in a lot of American cities — we don’t have that sense of club and community around professional sports.”
The Cosmos want to build a European or South American-style club, in the same vein as Boca Juniors and Real Madrid, who have their badge on other affiliated sports teams. The Cosmos has already announced a local chess club for those who aren’t as interested in sports.
On the pitch, Corti said his team will look to “lead with the ball,” letting his players play on the front foot. His tactical ideology stems from having the ball and winning it high up the pitch because “you’re closer to the goal, and that’s going to give you more advantages,” Corti said.
He and his coaching staff chose 34-year-old Sebastián Guenzatti — a veteran Uruguayan attacker who played for the last previous iteration of the Cosmos — as team captain, but are counting on rookie and veteran players alike to help lead the dressing room and “achieve their dreams in a professional environment.”
“They’re willing to compete and perform, representing a club that is one of the most important, maybe the most important club in the USA, [with its historical] background,” Corti said. “That’s the beginning, and that’s where we need to start from.”
