1981 New York Cosmos season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Hubert Birkenmeier 2 DF  IRN Andranik Eskandarian 3 DF  CAN Robert Iarusci 4 DF  USA Jeff Durgan 7 MF  PAR Julio César Romero 8 MF  YUG Vladislav Bogićević 9 FW  ITA Giorgio Chinaglia 11 FW  POR Seninho 12 MF  USA Larry Hulcer 13 MF  NED Johan Neeskens 14 FW  RSA Steve Wegerle

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  NED Wim Rijsbergen 16 FW  USA Angelo DiBernardo 17 MF  USA Rick Davis 18 MF  USA Boris Bandov 19 FW  PAR Roberto Cabanas 20 FW  BEL Francois Van Der Elst 21 GK  USA David Brcic 22 DF  YUG Ivan Buljan 24 FW  USA Darryl Gee 25 DF  USA Dominick Barczewski 28 FW  USA Chico Borja

Source:^[4]

Source:^[5]

Pld = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
6 points for a win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored (up to three per game).

Source:^[6]

• March 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, San Jose Earthquakes 0 Spartan Stadium Attendance 20,671
• April 4, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 1, New York Cosmos 1 (Tea Men won in Shootout) Jacksonville, Florida Attendance 12,124
• April 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Minnesota Kicks 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,378
• April 18, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Dallas Tornado 0 Texas Stadium Attendance 10,181
• April 26, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 40,238
• May 1, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Atlanta Chiefs 2 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Attendance 9,263
• May 3, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Washington Diplomats 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,189
• May 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Toronto Blizzard 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 27,003
• May 15, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Tulsa Roughnecks 1 Skelly Stadium Attendance 24,231
• May 17, 1981: Chicago Sting 3, New York Cosmos 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 42,385
• May 23, 1981: Washington Diplomats 3, New York Cosmos 2 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 27,676
• May 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 5, Dallas Tornado 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,640
• May 30, 1981: Tampa Bay Rowdies 2, New York Cosmos 1 Tampa Stadium Attendance 36,765
• June 2, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 38,667
• June 7, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Atlanta Chiefs 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,452
• June 10, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1 Lockhart Stadium Attendance 18,089
• June 14, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Toronto Blizzard 3 Giants Stadium Attendance 31,210
• June 17, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Washington Diplomats 1 Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance 36,875
• June 21, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Los Angeles Aztecs 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,362
• June 24, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 12,240
• June 28, 1981: Chicago Sting 5, New York Cosmos 5 (Sting Won in Shootout) Wrigley Field Attendance 35,501
• July 5, 1981: New York Cosmos 3, Tulsa Roughnecks 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 33,673
• July 8, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Toronto Blizzard 1 Varsity Stadium Attendance 17,642
• July 22, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Montreal Manic 4 (Cosmos Won in Shootout) Giants stadium Attendance 27,331
• July 25, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Olympic Stadium Attendance 40,118
• July 29, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Portland Timbers 0 Giants Stadium Attendance 28,640
• August 2, 1981: Jacksonville Tea Men 2, New York Cosmos 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 36,408
• August 5, 1981: Minnesota Kicks 2, New York Cosmos 1 Metropolitan Stadium Attendance 28,609
• August 9, 1981: Edmonton Drillers 2, New York Cosmos 0 Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium Attendance 14,781
• August 12, 1981: New York Cosmos 4, Washington Diplomats 2 Giants Stadium Attendance 34,884
• August 16, 1981: New York Cosmos 2, Montreal Manic 1 Giants Stadium Attendance 38,123
• August 19, 1981: New York Cosmos 1, Toronto Blizzard 1 (Blizzard Won in Shootout) Varsity Stadium Attendance 12,367

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer
February 1	FC Birsfelden	N [n 1]	9–0	n/a	Chinaglia (5), van der Elst (3), Romero
February 16	Deportivo Morón	A	2–2	25,000	Chinaglia (2)
February 21	Cipolletti	A	4–1	8,000	Chinaglia (2), Borja, Cabañas
February 21	Boca Juniors (B)	A	9–1	10,000	Chinaglia (4), Romero (4), Bogicevic
February 25	Colo Colo	A	0–1	45,000	–
March 3	Peñarol	A	4–3	40,000	Chinaglia (3), Romero
March 5	São Paulo	A	1–3	50,000	Chinaglia
March 8	Paraguay	A	5–2	45,000	Romero (2), Seninho (2), Chinaglia
March 11	Guadalajara	A	0–1	45,000	–
March 15	América	A	2–4	105,000	Chinaglia, van der Elst
March 17	El Salvador	A	5–1	31,209	Chinaglia (2), Seninho (2), Cabañas
March 19	Los Angeles Aztecs	A	1–0	3,534	Cabañas
May 20	Anderlecht	H	1–2	30,512	van der Elst
June 4	São Paulo	A	2–2	53,617	Chinaglia, DiBernardo
July 1	Greece	H	2–0	42,318	Cabañas, Chinaglia
July 12	Celtic	H	2–0	29,215	Romero, Durgari
July 15	Southampton	H	2–1	29,614	Bogicevic, Romero
July 19	Seattle Sounders	H	3–3	40,724	Chinaglia (2), van der Elst
August 30	Grêmio	H	1–3	30,523	Chinaglia
October 4	Canada	A	1–1	3,000	van der Elst
October 7	Canada	A	0–4	10,688	–
October 10	Valur	A	6–2	10,500	Chinaglia (3), Bogicevic (2), Romero
October 13	Borussia Dortmund	A	2–4	10,000	Davis, Chinaglia
October 18	Milan	H	1–1	6,000	Chinaglia

Notes

• 1981 North American Soccer League season