Francisco Marcos began his career in soccer playing the game in the streets of Portugal. He purchased his first pair of boots at the age of 16, as boots were nothing but a formality growing up in a soccer crazed nation.
Earning a scholarship to play at Hartwick College in northern New York State, Marcos understood very early his future lied outside the touch lines. Despite establishing himself as a midfielder on nationally-ranked teams under coaches David Haase and Al Miller, he also served as the editor of the school newspaper, started the Empire State Soccer League and launched the magazine Soccer Monthly, which eventually became the official magazine of the U.S. Soccer Federation. Marcos immersed himself in the avenue of soccer media, immediately establishing himself as a pioneer of the game in the United States.
Following graduation in 1968, Marcos wasted no time laying the foundation for his future accomplishments. He accompanied Hartwick’s team on a European tour where he gathered a network of international soccer contacts that would serve him throughout his career marketing the game in North America.
The idea of taking American teams to Europe evolved into a full-time business for the young entrepreneur, who founded American International Sports Exchange, the first American company to develop soccer tours for teams in the United States. Through the company, Marcos met many prominent college and professional coaches. He demonstrated his ability to seek out talent and organize top-level sides. He was directly responsible for recruiting the foreign contingency that became the Philadelphia Atoms North American Soccer League Championship team of 1973, their inaugural season in the league. His nose for the game was recognized by Al Miller of the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Marcos landed in Florida rousing growth in the NASL.
Marcos’s title with Tampa Bay was Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Soccer Operations. He and the Rowdies led a Tampa edition of a nationwide movement to teach Americans soccer. The project forged by the Rowdies took off with the signing of Pele to the New York Cosmos. The Rowdies averaged 33,000 per game in then, small market Tampa while their late-blooming rival Cosmos sold out the largest existing venues from 1975 through 1983 – when the two sides faced off, the foundation of soccer in the United States was being poured.
“There are moments, events, people and places throughout the history of sports that made the day,” said Marcos. “Eventually they will talk about the day the Tampa Bay Rowdies played the New York Cosmos and 63,000 people showed up. They had to delay the game 30 minutes because everything was so bottled up. The next morning Howard Cosell was going on about soccer, calling it; ‘What will eventually become the biggest league of all.’”
Marcos shifted to the NASL’s Dallas Tornado in 1979, where he served as Vice President of player personnel, the first person to hold such a position. In 1980 he forcefully ignited a third soccer community in the Calgary Boomers, tying himself to his third successful NASL franchise before returning to Tampa Bay in 1981 to become Executive Vice President of the Rowdies.
The fall of the NASL encouraged Marcos greatest soccer vision – a group of national leagues blanketing the United States. His life endeavor took off in 1986 with the berth of his now Tampa-based United Soccer Leagues.
USL began as an indoor league in southwestern United States, slowly growing from an original five in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Through 20 years of acquisitions and development, Marcos’s USL has developed into over 130 clubs and upwards of 750 youth teams at its peak in the U.S. and Canada.
“Soccer was going to be it for me,” said Marcos. “I believed my passion for the game was enough to propel me and my league. Fortunately, that passion has not quit.”
Marcos’s passion was obviously more than enough. His Southwest Indoor Soccer League expanded every season in the 1980’s. In 1989 the SISL modified its name to the stirring of an outdoor game revitalized by the announcement of an American World Cup. Under their new moniker, the Southwest Outdoor Soccer League blanketed the Sunbelt, changing again to the United States Interregional Soccer League in 1992.
“When FIFA decided in 1988 or 1989 that the World Cup was to going to come to the U.S. in 1994 – then I knew that something was about to happen,” said Marcos. “I knew it was worthwhile to go through the first three or four years of absolute insanity, trying to keep this thing alive. The outdoor game was going to return.”
“If there was an absolute and ultimate goal, it was simply for soccer to be a big thing in the United Sates,” added Marcos. “I wanted soccer to become a well respected sport in America, for it to be a proper enterprise, to be something people could feel passionate about, as passionate I felt about the sport and my club back in Portugal. I wanted people in this country to feel for soccer the way they used to feel about old baseball teams - the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.”
In 2007 Marcos was honored with the US Soccer Werner Fricker Builder Award, the greatest recognition bestowed by US Soccer upon members. The award is presented annually to an individual who has worked tirelessly in furthering the interest of the sport of soccer without regard to personal recognition or advancement.
Following the acquisition of USL by NuRock Soccer Holdings in August of 2009 Marcos was transitioned to the position of President Emeritus and Senior Director of International Development. In his current role, Marcos will expand his recent efforts in the area of international relationships and partnerships. Utilizing his European background and residency, as well as his numerous relationships with soccer leaders around the world, Marcos will look to aid USL in fostering meaningful relationships between USL, its clubs and its players.
“This is the proper time for a transition to occur,” said Marcos. “I have long believed that the integration of USL with the world beyond our North American borders is a critical part in expanding the profile of our organization as well as aiding our clubs in providing additional development opportunities. I will be focusing my energies to the fullest extent to that end.”
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Born in Portugal, Marcos is fluent in five languages. He is a fanatical soccer fan and has the match tickets to prove it. He has attended ten consecutive World Cups since 1970 either as a fan, journalist or part of an official delegation. In 1994, he served as FIFA’s official team liaison for the Brazilian National Team. He was also head of delegations for US National Teams at the 1999 U20 FIFA World Championships in Nigeria, Argentina in 2001, and Holland in 2005.
Recognized by his peers as one of the key movers and shakers in the game, he serves or has served on the board of directors of US Soccer, the US Soccer Foundation, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), the US Soccer Governing task force and in 2005 was recognized with a letter of commendation by the NSCAA. He was inducted into Hartwick College’s Hall of Fame in 2001 and into USL’s own Hall of Fame in 2002.
He now splits his time between the USA and Portugal, where his family - wife Beverly and children Julian and Amy reside and where he attends every possible match in the stands of his boyhood team, Sporting Club of Portugal.
