Chris Dangerfield has watched this region fall in love with the beautiful game, because he helped it happen.
Silicon Valley doesn’t typically make the shortlist of global soccer destinations. But look a little closer, and the evidence is impossible to ignore. The San Jose Earthquakes have been a professional soccer institution since 1974 and one of the oldest clubs in American soccer history. Bay FC, the Bay Area’s new women’s professional club, launched in 2024 and immediately drew sellout crowds to PayPal Park in San Jose. Now the Valley, known more for AI and silicon, is set to play a major role during FIFA World Cup 2026. And this summer, Santa Clara will host six FIFA World Cup matches: five group stage games and a Round of 32 knockout on July 1.
From international matches at Stanford Stadium and Spartan Stadium in the 1990s to rooting for Bay FC with a new generation of fans, soccer has been woven into Silicon Valley family life for decades. For visitors arriving for the World Cup, this region isn’t a soccer outpost. It’s a thriving community.
Nobody understands that better than Chris Dangerfield.
Born to Play, Built to Stay
Christopher George Dangerfield was born on August 9, 1955 in Coleshill, Warwickshire, England. He turned professional at 17 with Wolverhampton Wanderers and went on to represent England’s youth national team. But the pivot that would define his life came in 1975, when a Birmingham-area coach named Vic Crowe was tasked with quickly assembling a squad for a brand-new American franchise.
“Five of us came from Wolverhampton Wanderers,” Dangerfield recalls — himself, Barry Powell, Jimmy Kelly, Donald Gardner, and Peter Withe. The franchise was the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League, and that summer, they made a run all the way to the Soccer Bowl championship final. The 1975 final was played at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.
That was Dangerfield’s introduction to this city. It would not be his last.
Over the following years, he crisscrossed the American soccer landscape — Las Vegas, Hawaii, Tulsa, Los Angeles, Minnesota. He turned down a contract with Coventry City to stay in the States, a decision that speaks volumes about how much he believed in the American game’s future even before the rest of the world did. He arrived in San Jose permanently in late 1981 to play for the Earthquakes, and he never really left.
“I always loved it,” he says simply. “Great friends, great fans, great energy.”
Silicon Valley Gave Him a Second Life
When his playing days ended, Dangerfield faced the challenge every professional athlete eventually confronts: building a life outside the pitch. Silicon Valley, it turned out, was the perfect place to reinvent himself.
“You realize everything it offers,” he says. “Not only career opportunities with Silicon Valley right on your doorstep, but from a personal perspective, you can go from the beach in Santa Cruz to skiing at Lake Tahoe within a couple of hours. The weather is fantastic. There’s a tremendous amount of business opportunity.”
He took a chance on technical recruiting, joining a firm that needed people who could pick up the phone and persuade. His decades of playing in team environments translated directly. He worked in software recruiting for nearly 30 years, eventually becoming a partner, before retiring from the industry about two years ago.
These days, his entrepreneurial energy flows in two directions. One is a venture called C’est La Cas — French for “the box” — a line of fully sustainable, biodegradable, customizable wine gift cases designed for high-end wineries. “They’re made of high-pressed pulp, extremely durable, and the designs are very pleasing to the eye,” he explains. Clients include Napa estates like Priest Ranch and Somerston Ranch. Traditional packaging is not eco-friendly including the use of wood and polymers. C’est La Cas provides greater sustainability, often for less than existing options. “If the worst thing that happens is you go to Napa to show some new cases and enjoy lunch — that’s not a bad job.”
The other is the game itself. Dangerfield was inducted into the San Jose Earthquakes Hall of Fame in March 2018, and the relationship hasn’t cooled since. He serves as an analyst, ambassador, and commentator — appearing on KTVU Channel 2 for the Earthquakes’ weekly Quakes Exclusive program and doing radio broadcasts. The Earthquakes, he says, have been “like a family.”
On the World Cup at Our Doorstep
For a man who played in his first Soccer Bowl at Spartan Stadium in 1975, the idea of six World Cup matches happening a few miles from where he lives carries a particular weight.
He traces a direct line from the 1994 World Cup — which was also partially hosted in the Bay Area — to the birth of Major League Soccer. “Two years after the World Cup, 1996 was the first game in Major League Soccer, right back at Spartan Stadium in San Jose,” he says. “The Clash played DC United. Who knows what’s going to happen after 2026?”
His prediction for this tournament? France, built on depth and collective quality, is his pick. But he won’t discount England, Argentina, or a Spanish side whose Barcelona core gives them unusual club-like cohesion. And the U.S.? He’s optimistic. “They chose Senegal — African Cup champions — and Germany to warm up against. They didn’t go for layup games. That tells you something.”
As for the matches coming to Levi’s Stadium, Dangerfield flags Paraguay as a tactical dark horse — technically disciplined and well-organized — and believes if the U.S. wins their group, they could be back at Levi’s on July 1 for the Round of 32. “That’s an exciting possibility for the fans here.”
Why He Stays
It’s a fair question to ask someone born in the English Midlands who has now spent the majority of his life on the other side of the world. Why Silicon Valley?
The answer sounds less like a choice and more like a gravitational pull. The lifestyle. The opportunity. The friends from 1975 still living nearby. A community that embraced the sport before the sport was easy to love.
“When you’ve traveled all over the United States,” he says, “you keep coming back here for a reason.”
This summer, a billion soccer fans around the world will discover what Chris Dangerfield figured out 50 years ago — that there’s something special happening in Silicon Valley. He just got here first.
Chris Dangerfield is a former professional footballer, San Jose Earthquakes Hall of Famer, broadcaster, and entrepreneur based in the Bay Area. His brand C’est La Cas provides bespoke, sustainable packaging for top wineries.