Major League Soccer made a permanent home in the Big Apple just a few years ago. But on the lower levels of the sport, soccer has been a staple in Brooklyn for nearly seven decades. The Brooklyn Italians, currently of the lower-tier National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), were established shortly after World War II by a group of Italian immigrants.

“It was kind of like a way to socialize with other Italian immigrants and from there they decided to get into the sports that they love and form a team,” said Fred DeMarco, the coach of the Italians’ U13 squad. “We evolved with the times. We weren’t only an Italian club. We had players and members of the club that were of different descents.”