A-League (1995–2004)
























USL A-League

ALeagueLogo.GIF
Founded
1995
Folded
2004 (became USL First Division)
Country
United States
Canada
Confederation
USSF, CONCACAF
Conferences
2
Number of teams
16 (2004)
Level on pyramid
2
Domestic cup(s)
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Most championships
Montreal Impact
(3 season championships)
Rochester Raging Rhinos
(3 playoff championships)
Website
USLSoccer.com


Original A-League logo


The A-League was a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States and Canada. The A-League emerged from the restructured American Professional Soccer League in 1995 and operated until 2004, after which it was re-branded the USL First Division. During its first season, in 1995, it was the de facto top professional soccer league in both countries, before it was replaced at the top of the United States soccer pyramid by Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.




Contents





  • 1 History

    • 1.1 A-League teams



  • 2 Champions

    • 2.1 Regular season


    • 2.2 Play-off season



  • 3 Most Successful Clubs


  • 4 References




History


The origins of the A-League go back to 1986 and 1987 with the creation of three unrelated semi-professional soccer leagues. On the north-west coast, the Western Soccer Alliance (WSA), a summer outdoor league, emerged in response to the collapse of the North American Soccer League. In the southwest United States, the Southwest Indoor Soccer League was created in response to the upsurge in popularity of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Finally, in 1987, the Canadian Soccer League emerged with eight teams across Canada.


While the SISL remained virtually unknown to the wider soccer community, the Western Soccer Alliance grew in popularity and inspired the creation of the third American Soccer League in 1988. By the summer of 1989, these two leagues began considering a merger. At the same time, the SISL had grown to seventeen indoor teams and had added a summer outdoor schedule, known as the Southwest Outdoor Soccer League with included eight teams. In 1990, the WSA and ASL merged to form the American Professional Soccer League with twenty-two teams across the United States. At the same time, the SISL expanded to fourteen outdoor teams.


In 1992, the SISL renamed itself the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL) and had grown to twenty-one teams. By the 1993 season, the number of teams in the USISL had doubled to forty-two.


The mergers between all of these leagues continued in 1993 with the collapse of the Canadian Soccer League. This led to three Canadian teams, the Vancouver 86ers, Toronto Blizzard and Montreal Impact joining the American Professional Soccer League for the 1993 season. So by the summer of 1993, only two outdoor leagues competed for national attention in North America, the United States Interregional Soccer League and the American Professional Soccer League. However, by this time, the USISL was growing and the APSL was shrinking.


In 1995, the American Professional Soccer League was down to six teams – two Canadian and four American. It also changed its name to the A-League. At the same time, the rapidly growing USISL had split its teams into two leagues, the fully professional Professional League and the semi-professional Premier League. In 1996, the USISL made one more critical move. It created a Select League with twenty-one of its most successful clubs. With the creation of the Select League, the USISL now competed directly with the A-League for Division II recognition. This led the two leagues, the A-League which was made up the remains of the old Western Soccer Alliance, American Soccer League and Canadian Soccer League, and the USISL to enter merger talks. The creation of Major League Soccer in 1996 as an American Division I league also spurred the merger.[1]


In 1997, six of the seven remaining A-League teams – Montreal Impact, Colorado Foxes, Seattle Sounders, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Vancouver 86ers and Atlanta Ruckus, plus two planned A-League expansion teams (Toronto Lynx and Hershey Wildcats) merged with the USISL Select League to form the USISL A-League, a consolidated North American Division II league with twenty-four teams.[2]


In 1999, the USISL renamed itself the United Soccer Leagues (USL). The USISL A-League then became the USL A-League. In 2005, the USL A-League was formally renamed the USL First Division or USL-1.


It remained the top league of the Canadian soccer pyramid throughout its existence, with Canadian teams vying for the fan created Voyageurs Cup, until 2006 when Toronto FC debuted in MLS, effectively splitting Division 1 status in Canada between the two leagues. Eventually as the standard of play rose in MLS, by 2010 the USL-1 was effectively Division 2 in Canada.



A-League teams









Champions



Regular season
















































































































Season
Winner
Record (W–L–T)
Points
Playoff
Results (W–L–T)

Runners-up
Record (W–L–T)
Points

2004
Portland Timbers18–7–357
Lost in conference semifinal series overtime1–1–0
Montreal Impact17–6–556

2003
Milwaukee Wave United18–10–054
Lost in division final series overtime1–1–0
Montreal Impact16–6–654

2002
Seattle Sounders23–4–1107
Lost in conference semifinal series0–2–0
Charleston Battery19–3–689

2001
Richmond Kickers16–7–376
Lost in quarterfinal series0–2–0
Hershey Wildcats16–7–375

2000
Minnesota Thunder20–4–499
Lost in final4–2–0
Milwaukee Rampage18–9–189

1999
Rochester Raging Rhinos22–692
Lost in final5–3
San Diego Flash20–890

1998
Rochester Raging Rhinos24–470
Won Championship6–0
San Diego Flash21–761

1997
Montreal Impact21–761
Lost in conference final series3–2
Hershey Wildcats19–955

1996
Montreal Impact21–655
Lost in semifinal0–1
Colorado Foxes16–1144

1995
Montreal Impact17–751
Lost in semifinal series1–2
Seattle Sounders18–651


Play-off season















































































Season
Winner
Score
Runner-up
Top Goalscorer
Team
Goals

2004

Montreal Impact
2–0

Seattle Sounders

Alan Gordon and Dante Washington

Portland Timbers and Virginia Beach Mariners
17

2003

Charleston Battery
3–0

Minnesota Thunder

Thiago Martins

Pittsburgh Riverhounds
22

2002

Milwaukee Rampage
2–1 (2OT)

Richmond Kickers

Fadi Afash, Eduardo Sebrango, and McKinley Tennyson

Portland Timbers, Montreal Impact, and Portland Timbers
18

2001

Rochester Raging Rhinos
2–0

Hershey Wildcats

Paul Conway

Charleston Battery
22

2000

Rochester Raging Rhinos
3–1

Minnesota Thunder

Paul Conway, Greg Howes, and Johnny Menyongar

Charleston Battery, Seattle Sounders, and Minnesota Thunder
17

1999

Minnesota Thunder
2–1

Rochester Raging Rhinos

Mark Baena and Niall Thompson

Seattle Sounders and Vancouver 86ers
20

1998

Rochester Raging Rhinos
3–1

Minnesota Thunder

Mark Baena

Seattle Sounders
24

1997

Milwaukee Rampage
1–1 (SO)

Carolina Dynamo

Doug Miller

Rochester Raging Rhinos
23

1996

Seattle Sounders
2–0

Rochester Raging Rhinos

Doug Miller

Rochester Raging Rhinos
18

1995

Seattle Sounders
2–1 (SO)

Atlanta Ruckus

Peter Hattrup

Seattle Sounders
11


Most Successful Clubs




















































Club
Championships
Runners-up
Regular Season Championships
Regular Season Runner-up
Rochester Rhinos3220
Seattle Sounders2111
Milwaukee Rampage2001
Montreal Impact1032
Minnesota Thunder1310
Charleston Battery1001
Richmond Kickers0110
Portland Timbers0010
Milwaukee Wave United0010


References




  1. ^ The Year in American Soccer – 1995


  2. ^ The Year in American Soccer – 1996








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