in 1966 a group of united states and canadian sports entrepreneurs, led by jack kent cooke, formed the united soccer association with the intention of organizing a professional soccer league. the usa originally intended to launch its league in the spring of 1968. however a rival league, the national professional soccer league, announced it was ready to launch in 1967. not wanting to lose ground to its rival, the usa decided to fast track its launch. without any players of its own, it opted to import whole teams from europe and south america. it was intended that these teams would represent the franchises during the inaugural season, giving them time to build their own squads for the following season. wolverhampton wanderers, who had won promotion to the english first division at the end of the 1966–67 season subsequently represented the los angeles franchise. cooke had originally intended to call the team the los angeles zorros, but when the agreement with wolverhampton wanderers was made, it was decided to use their nickname of wolves.