Nickname(s) Gales Stadium Candlestick Park Owner George Fleharty Founded 1967 | Dissolved 1967 Ground Capacity 59,942 Ground Candlestick Park | |
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Full name San Francisco Golden Gate Gales Location San Francisco, California, United States Managers Ernst Happel, Ferenc Puskás | ||
The San Francisco Golden Gate Gales were a soccer team based in San Francisco, California, USA, that played in the United Soccer Association. The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The San Francisco club was actually the ADO Den Haag from The Hague in the Netherlands, coached by Ernst Happel. Their home ground was Candlestick Park.
Once a local team was established they were set to be coached by the Hungarian soccer player Ferenc Puskás. However, following the 1967 season, the USA merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League with the teams from the former USA having to create their rosters from scratch. The Gales closed their franchise to yield to the Oakland Clippers and the owners bought a controlling interest in the Vancouver Royals.