BBC series explores how America transformed modern football forever

(L-R) George Best and Pelé.

©Getty Images

American showmanship, global superstars and packed stadiums helped reshape modern football decades before the Premier League boom — and a new BBC Northern Ireland series is set to revisit the extraordinary rise, collapse and rebirth of soccer in the United States.

Pitch Invasion: How The USA Changed Soccer tells the story of how America helped transform the global game, from the glitzy rise of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 1970s to the modern-day success of Major League Soccer and the arrival of global icons such as Lionel Messi.

The two-part series begins on Monday, June 8, just days before the FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11, and examines how the United States changed football culture long before many traditional football nations embraced entertainment-focused matchday experiences.

Football’s American revolution

At the height of its popularity in the late 1970s, the NASL attracted some of the biggest names in world football, including Pelé, George Best, Johan Cruyff, Rodney Marsh and Franz Beckenbauer.

The league introduced ideas that are now common across the global game — family-friendly stadiums, mascots, celebrity marketing, shirt names and entertainment-driven presentation — at a time when much of British football was battling hooliganism, ageing stadiums and declining atmospheres.

While the NASL ultimately collapsed in the early 1980s, the series argues that its influence continued long after the league disappeared.

Children across America continued to play the sport, while the college system helped create the foundations for the rise of the US Women’s National Team, which would go on to dominate internationally through World Cup and Olympic success.

The documentary also charts the resurgence of the men’s game through Major League Soccer, boosted by the arrival of David Beckham and, more recently, modern superstars including Messi.

Big football names and familiar voices

Narrated by comedian and broadcaster Patrick Kielty, the series features contributions from a number of former footballers who experienced the NASL era first-hand.

Among those appearing are Harry Redknapp, Rodney Marsh, Bruce Grobbelaar and Northern Ireland football figure Jimmy Nicholl.

The programme also includes contributions from Pelé’s former manager Rose Ganguzza, ex-England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis, comedians Maisie Adam and Shane Todd, alongside historians and authors specialising in American soccer history.

Made for BBC Northern Ireland by DoubleBand Films, the documentary aims to give viewers an eyewitness account of a period many football fans now view as being ahead of its time.

Why the story still matters today

The timing of the series comes as football in the United States continues to grow rapidly ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

With MLS attracting global attention, increasing investment and some of the world’s biggest players, the documentary revisits how America’s early experiments with football presentation and commercialisation helped shape aspects of the modern game now seen across Europe and beyond.

For football supporters in Northern Ireland and across the UK, the series also revisits a forgotten era when some of Britain’s biggest football personalities crossed the Atlantic in search of something completely different from the traditional football culture at home.

Broadcast details

Pitch Invasion: How The USA Changed Soccer begins on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer on Monday, June 8, 2026.

• Monday, June 8, 2026

BBC One Northern Ireland

10:40am – 11:40am

The series promises a nostalgic but revealing look at a football revolution that, despite its collapse, helped lay the foundations for many elements of the modern global game fans recognise today.