Key dates relating to soccer at Aloha Stadium:
April 7, 1976: Some 21,705 watch Pele score four goals as the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League beat Team Honda of Japan 5-0 in the feature match of the Aloha Soccer Festival triple-header.
April 13, 1977: A crowd of 12,877 sees Pele and the Cosmos beat Team Hawaii 2-1 in a North American Soccer League match. Team Hawaii lasts one season, with a record of 11-15 and average attendance of 4,543.
Feb. 23, 2008: Gamba Osaka beats the Houston Dynamo 6-1 and the Los Angeles Galaxy beats Sydney FC 2-1 in championship and third-place matches of the Pan Pacific Championships. The announced attendance of 23,087 is reported as the largest ever to gather for soccer in Hawaii. David Beckham playing for the Galaxy and Brian Ching for the Dynamo help account for the big crowd. The event, owned by ESPN Regional, moves to Los Angeles the next year.
Feb. 23 and 25, 2012: About 12,000 total for two nights watch MLS champion Colorado and pro teams from Australia, Japan and South Korea compete in the Hawaiian Islands Invitational. It was supposed to be an inaugural event of a three-year contract, with $1.7 million of support from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Lack of additional sponsorship forced cancellation of the last two years.
Dec. 5, 2015: The U.S. Women’s National Team says it won’t play its exhibition match against Trinidad & Tobago at Aloha Stadium scheduled for the next day, citing what players and coach Jill Ellis call an unsafe turf field.
Feb. 8 and 10, 2018: The four-team tournament Pacific Rim Cup, featuring pro teams from the U.S., Canada and Japan, is set to be the first soccer event at Aloha Stadium since the USWNT cancellation.
