A-League (1995–2004)

USL A-League

Country	United States Canada
Confederation	USSF, CONCACAF
Founded	1995
Folded	2004 (became USL First Division)
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.

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 league 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

Atlanta Silverbacks (1995–2004) (as Atlanta Ruckus 1995–1998) Boston Bulldogs (1997–2000) (as Worcester Wildfire 1997–1998) Calgary Mustangs (2002–2004) (as Calgary Storm 2002–2003) California Jaguars (1995–1998) Carolina Dynamo (1997) Charleston Battery (1997–2004) Charlotte Eagles (2001–2003) Cincinnati Riverhawks (1998–2003) Connecticut Wolves (1995–2001) Edmonton Aviators (2004) El Paso Patriots (1997–2003) Hershey Wildcats (1997–2001) Indiana Blast (1999–2003) Jacksonville Cyclones (1997–1999) Lehigh Valley Steam (1999) Long Island Rough Riders (1997–2001) Maryland Mania (1999) Milwaukee Rampage (1997–2002) Milwaukee Wave United (2003–2004) Minnesota Thunder (1997–2004) MLS Project 40 (1998–2000) Montreal Impact (1995–2004)

Nashville Metros (1997–2001) (as Tennessee Rhythm 1999–2000) New Orleans Storm (1997–1999) (as New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 1997) New York Centaurs (1995) New York Fever (1996) Orange County Waves (2000) (as Orange County Zodiac (1997–1999)) Orlando Sundogs (1997) Pittsburgh Riverhounds (1999–2003) Portland Timbers (2001–2004) Puerto Rico Islanders (2004) Raleigh Capital Express (1997–2000) (as Raleigh Flyers 1997–1998; Raleigh Express 1999) Richmond Kickers (1997–2004) Rochester Raging Rhinos (1997–2004) Sacramento Geckos (1998–1999) (as Albuquerque Geckos (1998)) San Diego Flash (1995–2001) (as Colorado Foxes (1995–1997)) San Francisco Bay Seals (1998–2000) (as Bay Area Seals (2000)) Seattle Sounders (1995–2004) Staten Island Vipers (1998–1999) Syracuse Salty Dogs (2003–2004) Toronto Lynx (1997–2004) Vancouver Whitecaps (1995–2004) (as Vancouver 86ers (1995–2000)) Virginia Beach Mariners (1997–2004) (as Hampton Roads Mariners (1997–2000; 2002))

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

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 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

1. The Year in American Soccer – 1995
2. The Year in American Soccer – 1996