List of Washington Diplomats players

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.

Regular season players

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Name Country Position Years Notes
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

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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

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  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.