Soccer Events
International Soccer Events
Lone Star Sports and Entertainment has brought soccer to the forefront in Houston by producing world-class soccer events at Reliant Stadium. Partly because of the success of these major events, Houston is now the 4th ranked soccer city in the nation.
CONCACAF Gold Cup
CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, hosts the Gold Cup regional tournament for the 12 participating nations every two years. LSSE hosted the Gold Cup in 2005 at Reliant Stadium which was voted the Top Gold Cup Venue of that year. In 2007, LSSE hosted a Qualifier and Quarterfinal match of the Gold Cup which brought in the 3rd and 5th largest soccer crowds in Texas history. Gold Cup will again return to Reliant Stadium on July 9, 2009 as LSSE hosts first round double header action featuring matches between Guadeloupe and Nicaragua at 7:00pm and Mexico and Panama at 9:00pm.
Tickets for the 2009 Gold Cup will go on sale to the general public on Friday, April 17, through the Reliant Stadium box office and at all TicketMaster locations, including all Fiesta grocery stores in the Houston area.
Mexico vs. Belize: 2010 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
The mens' national soccer teams from Belize and Mexico will square off in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Reliant Stadium on Sunday, June 15, 2008. The match will be the first FIFA World Cup qualifier to be played in Houston, and is the first of a home-and-home series between the nations as they begin the quest to compete in the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010.
U.S. vs. Mexico
LSSE has hosted two “friendly” matches between the U.S. and Mexican national teams. The 2003 match brought in a passionate crowd of 69,582 fans and remained the largest home crowd for the U.S. Men’s National Team until the next matched hosted by LSSE on February 6, 2008. The second largest soccer crowd in Texas history (70,013) watched as the two teams battled it out in a 2-2 tie.
2006 FC Barcelona vs. Club America
LSSE hosted one of the most exciting international soccer matches of 2006 as Mexico’s Club America went head-to-head with the newly crowned winner of the UEFA Champions League and back-to-back Spanish La Liga champion, FC Barcelona, at Reliant Stadium on August 9, 2006. This exhilarating match-up was part of a doubleheader featuring a face-off between the Houston Dynamo and the Los Angeles Galaxy. This event topped all Texas soccer events by drawing in the largest soccer crowd in Texas history with 70,550 fans.
2004 – 2005 Interliga
The InterLiga is a series of matches between Mexican clubs to determine qualifying spots for that country in South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores. In both 2004 and 2005, LSSE hosted the top two crowds in America at Reliant Stadium.
Notable
LSSE has hosted the 5 largest soccer crowds in the history of Texas at Reliant Stadium:
- 2008 U.S. vs. Mexico — 70,103
- 2007 Gold Cup Quarterfinals — 70,092
- 2007 Gold Cup Qualifier — 68,417
- 2006 FC Barcelona vs. Club America — 70,550
- 2003 U.S. vs. Mexico — 69,582
Other LSSE soccer highlights include:
- America’s Top Gold Cup Venues in 2005 and 2007
- America’s Top InterLiga Venues in 2004 and 2005
- In 2003, Reliant Stadium hosted the U.S. vs. Mexico match, which gained recognition as the “Best Soccer Crowd in America” by U.S. Soccer.
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