Soccer Hall of Fame elects Beckham, Rapinoe, Altidore for 2027
Rapinoe, Jozy Altidore and Julie Johnston Ertz each received 46 votes in their first year of eligibility.
David Beckham, Megan Rapinoe and Jozy Altidore have been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Class of 2027, the Hall announced Thursday. Julie Johnston Ertz, Tatu and Lothar Osiander round out the six-member class.
Altidore, Ertz and Rapinoe won places on the Player Ballot in their first year of eligibility. The Hall’s vote totals show that each appeared on 46 ballots cast by the 48-member Player Voting Committee.
The Veteran Ballot produced two inductees, Beckham and Tatu, while Osiander was elected on the Builder Ballot. Tatu received 22 votes and Beckham 19 from the 24-member Veteran Voting Committee.
“Few classes capture the breadth of American soccer history quite like the Class of 2027,” Djorn Buchholz, the Hall’s executive director, said in the announcement.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber gave Beckham a surprise when he delivered the news during a league Board of Governors meeting in Bal Harbour, Florida.
For Rapinoe, the surprise came at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where her twin sister, Rachael, joined family and friends to greet her as she landed. Ertz heard the news from her husband, Zach, at the Philadelphia Eagles’ training facility.
Beckham left Real Madrid for the LA Galaxy in 2007. After losing the 2009 MLS title game, he helped the Galaxy capture championships in 2011 and 2012 and earned a place in the league’s Best XI in 2011.
Altidore collected 115 U.S. men’s national team appearances between 2007 and 2019, and his 42 goals rank third in team history. He also helped Toronto FC take the 2017 MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield.
From when he burst onto the scene as a teenager in @MLS, Jozy Altidore was the standard-bearer up top for a generation of the @USMNT, amassing 115 caps and 42 international goals while also leading @TorontoFC to 3 MLS Cup finals.
— National Soccer HOF (@soccerhof) November 12, 2026
The @USMNT legend has been elected to the Class
Rapinoe earned the FIFA women’s player of the year award and the Ballon d’Or Feminine in 2019. She represented the U.S. women’s team 203 times and won two Women’s World Cups in four appearances at the tournament.
Ertz made 123 appearances for the U.S. women between 2013 and 2023, contributing to World Cup championships in 2015 and 2019.
Tatu, whose real name is Antonio Carlos Pecorari, spent 1984 through 1992 with the Dallas Sidekicks and earned the Major Indoor Soccer League’s MVP award twice. Osiander led the U.S. men’s national team between 1986 and 1988 before becoming the Galaxy’s first coach.
Two player finalists fell short. Michael Bradley and Ali Krieger received 43 votes apiece.
Ken Cooper Sr. and Tiffany Roberts were not elected, though both won 75.0% support in the Veteran Ballot vote. Hall rules permit the election of a second veteran with support from 75% or more of the voters.
The reason Cooper and Roberts were not elected was not immediately clear.
A private induction ceremony will take place on April 16, 2027, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, home of FC Dallas, the Hall said. The Associated Press gave the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas, as the induction site.
