Werner Fricker's roots in football were with the German-Hungarian Football Club in Philadelphia, with whom as captain of the team he won the 1965 US National Amateur Cup. In the previous year, he played for the USA during the Olympic Qualifying, an early sign of the part he was yet to play in international football, which culminated 26 years later when the World Cup was awarded to the USA. By the, he had risen through the ranks to become President of the United States Soccer Federation and led the massive effort to take the FIFA World Cup to the USA.