A season of frustration finally comes completely apart with the Sounders going out of the playoffs in the deciding game of the first round, 3-2, at 10-man Chicago. Seattle is in front, 1-nil, when Sting star Arno Steffenhagen is sent off just before halftime. Still, Chicago scores two quick goals to open the second half and eventually gets a third before Kevin Bond's late reply. The Sting go on to win their first NASL title.

Behind Brian Franklin's two goals, the Seattle Hungarians clinch an unprecedented fourth straight state league championship by beating the Tacoma Rangers, 3-1, at Lower Woodland. Three days earlier, the Magyars beat Heidelberg, 4-3, on the 10th anniversary of their formation in the first division. With 33 points (16-2-1) and two games in hand on the Leif Eriksen Vikings, the Hungarians are untouchable in the newly consolidated league season.

Reading and Marcus Hahnemann secure promotion to the English Premier League by drawing, 1-1, at Leicester City. It marks the first time in the club's 135-year history that Reading has reached the country's top level.

Michelle Akers is one of 10 recipients of FIFA's Order of Merit in Paris. Akers, the U.S. career scoring leader with 96 goals, has led the USMWNT to a 1991 World Cup victory and the 1996 gold medal in the Olympic Games. She is the fourth American to earn the distinction and the world's first female player.

A team of University of Washington students known as VISA (Visiting International Student Association) receives UW financial backing and renames itself Husky Soccer Club. VISA had joined the state's first division in October 1956.

Norselander Vikings get two goals from Erling Hansen to repeat as victors in the ninth annual Five-a-Side tournament at White Center. The Vikings beat E&E Meats, 2-0, to split $125 in government bonds.