North American Soccer League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
Sport Football (soccer)
Founded 1968
No. of teams Maximum of 24
Country Flag of United States United States and Flag of Canada Canada
Folded 1985
Last champions N/A

North American Soccer League or (NASL) was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.

Contents

In 1967, two pro soccer leagues started in the United States: the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association and the unsanctioned National Professional Soccer League. It has been suggested that the timing of this was related to the huge amount of attention given throughout the English-speaking world to the victory by England in the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the resulting documentary film, Goal. The National Professional Soccer League had a national television contract in the U.S. with the CBS television network, but the ratings for matches were unacceptable even by weekend daytime standards and the arrangement was terminated. The leagues merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). The league lasted until the 1984 NASL season when it suspended operations. However, four NASL teams (Chicago, Minnesota, New York, and San Diego) joined the Major Indoor Soccer League for its 1984-85 season. The NASL itself operated an indoor soccer league from 1979-82 and in 1983-84.

The biggest club in the league and the organization's bellwether was the New York Cosmos, who drew upwards of 40,000 fans per game at their height while aging Brazilian superstar Pelé played for them. Giants Stadium sold out (73,000+) their 1978 championship win. However, the overall average attendance of the entire league never reached 15,000, with some clubs averaging less than 5,000.

The NASL faced challenges in regard to selling the sport of soccer to Americans, which was then completely foreign to the majority of them. The league "Americanized" the rules in the attempt to make the game more exciting, and comprehensible, to the average American sports fan. These changes included a clock that counted time down to zero as was typical of other timed American sports, rather than upwards to 45 minutes as was traditional, a 35 yard line for offsides rather than the traditional half way line, and a shootout to decide matches that ended in a draw. The foreign image of soccer was not helped, however, by a league that brought in many older, high profile foreign players, and frequently left Americans on the bench. This effort was often doubly futile, as while many of the foreign players were perhaps "big names" in their home countries, almost none of them qualified as such in North America, and they quickly absorbed most of the available payroll, such as it was, which could have otherwise been used to pay North American players better.

Overexpansion was a huge factor in the death of the league. Once the league started growing, new franchises were awarded quickly, and it doubled in size in a few years, peaking at 24 teams. Many have suggested that cash-starved existing owners longed for their share of the expansion fee charged new owners, even though Forbes Magazine reported this amount as being only $100,000. This resulted in the available talent being spread too thinly, among other problems. Additionally, many of these new owners were not "soccer people", and once the perceived popularity started to decline, they got out as quickly as they got in. They also spent millions on aging stars to try to match the success of the Cosmos, and lost significant amounts of money in doing so.

Also, FIFA's decision to award the hosting of the 1986 FIFA World Cup to Mexico after Colombia withdrew, rather than the US, is considered a factor in the NASL's demise.

While the NASL ultimately failed, it introduced soccer to the North American sports scene on a large scale for the first time and was a major contributing factor in soccer becoming one of the most popular sports among American youth. In the late-1980s, FIFA did award the World Cup to the US, which would be staged in 1994. It has also provided lessons for its successor Major League Soccer, which has taken precautions against such problems. American college and high school soccer still use some NASL-style rules.

 

Year Player, team G A PTS
1967 USA Robert Boninsegna, Chicago 11 1 23
1967 NPSL Yanko Daucik, Toronto 20 8 48
1968 John Kowalik, Chicago 30 9 69
1969 Kaiser Motaung, Atlanta 16 4 36
1970 Kirk Apostolidis, Dallas 16 3 35
1971 Carlos Metidieri, Rochester 19 8 46
1972 Randy Horton, New York 9 4 22
1973 Kyle Rote 10 10 30
1974 Paul Child, San Jose 15 6 36
1975 Steve David, Miami 23 6 52
1976 Giorgio Chinaglia, New York 19 11 49
1977 Steve David, Los Angeles 26 6 58
1978 Giorgio Chinaglia, New York 34 11 79
1979 Oscar Fabbiani, Tampa Bay 25 8 58
1980 Giorgio Chinaglia, New York 32 13 77
1981 Giorgio Chinaglia, New York 29 16 74
1982 Giorgio Chinaglia, New York 20 15 55
1983 Roberto Cabanas, New York 25 16 66
1984 Steve Zungul, Golden Bay 20 10 50


  • 1968: 4,747
  • 1969: 4,699
  • 1970: 2,930
  • 1971: 3,163
  • 1972: 4,159
  • 1973: 4,780
  • 1974: 5,954
  • 1975: 7,770
  • 1976: 7,642
  • 1977: 10,295
  • 1978: 13,558
  • 1979: 13,084
  • 1980: 14,201
  • 1981: 14,084
  • 1982: 13,155
  • 1983: 13,258
  • 1984: 10,759

Note: This league consisted of teams from foreign leagues, who were shipped over to America en masse and given localized names. The real names of the corresponding teams are listed in parentheses.


Defunct Soccer Leagues In The United States
AFA (1884-88) | ALPF (1894-95) | NAFBL (1897) | UTFA (1902-20) | ASL I (1921-33) | ASLII (1933-83)
NPSL I (1967) | USA (1967) | NASL (1968-85) | MISL I (1978-92) | NPSL II 1984-01 | USL I (1984-85)
WSL (1985-89)|LSSA (1987-1992)| ASL III (1988-89) | CISL (1993-97) | EISL (1997-98) | WISL (1998-01)
WUSA (2001-2003)


Preceded by
ASL II		 Division 1 Soccer League in the United States
1967-1984		 Succeeded by
Major Indoor Soccer League

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