A-League (1995–2004)
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.
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| Founded | 1995 |
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| 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 |
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
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Champions
Regular season
| Season | Winner | Record (W–L–T) | Points | Playoff | Results (W–L–T) | Runners-up | Record (W–L–T) | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Portland Timbers | 18–7–3 | 57 | Lost in conference semifinal series overtime | 1–1–0 | Montreal Impact | 17–6–5 | 56 | |
| 2003 | Milwaukee Wave United | 18–10–0 | 54 | Lost in division final series overtime | 1–1–0 | Montreal Impact | 16–6–6 | 54 | |
| 2002 | Seattle Sounders | 23–4–1 | 107 | Lost in conference semifinal series | 0–2–0 | Charleston Battery | 19–3–6 | 89 | |
| 2001 | Richmond Kickers | 16–7–3 | 76 | Lost in quarterfinal series | 0–2–0 | Hershey Wildcats | 16–7–3 | 75 | |
| 2000 | Minnesota Thunder | 20–4–4 | 99 | Lost in final | 4–2–0 | Milwaukee Rampage | 18–9–1 | 89 | |
| 1999 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 22–6 | 92 | Lost in final | 5–3 | San Diego Flash | 20–8 | 90 | |
| 1998 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 24–4 | 70 | Won Championship | 6–0 | San Diego Flash | 21–7 | 61 | |
| 1997 | Montreal Impact | 21–7 | 61 | Lost in conference final series | 3–2 | Hershey Wildcats | 19–9 | 55 | |
| 1996 | Montreal Impact | 21–6 | 55 | Lost in semifinal | 0–1 | Colorado Foxes | 16–11 | 44 | |
| 1995 | Montreal Impact | 17–7 | 51 | Lost in semifinal series | 1–2 | Seattle Sounders | 18–6 | 51 | |
Play-off season
Most successful clubs
| Club | Championships | Runners-up | Regular Season Championships |
Regular Season Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Rhinos | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Seattle Sounders | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Milwaukee Rampage | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Montreal Impact | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Minnesota Thunder | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Charleston Battery | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Richmond Kickers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Portland Timbers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Milwaukee Wave United | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
References
- "The Year in American Soccer – 1995". Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- "The Year in American Soccer – 1996". Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
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| Men's national teams | |||||||||
| Women's national teams | |||||||||
| Men's outdoor leagues |
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| Women's outdoor leagues |
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| Indoor and futsal competitions | |||||||||
| Cup competitions | |||||||||
| Other competitions | |||||||||
| College and university soccer | |||||||||
| Defunct Canadian leagues | |||||||||
| Defunct American leagues | |||||||||
| Defunct cup competitions | |||||||||
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