The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was formed in 1990 as a merger between the third American Soccer League (started 1988) and the Western Soccer Alliance (started 1985). The leagues merged in 1990, and played separate conference schedules as a unitary 21 team body. Subsequent consolidation reduced the number of teams substantially, and reduced the league to a two division structure. The A-League was awarded FIFA and USSF Division II status in 1993-94, and was renamed the A-League in 1995. The A-League was absorbed by the USISL Select League at the end of 1996. The new league retained the A-League name, and totalled 24 teams in all, mostly from the USISL Select league. See the USISL archive for subsequent standings. Many thanks to Chris Allen (csallen@uga.cc.uga.edu) for providing much of this material.
OT = Overtime; PK = Penalty Kicks; MG = Mini-Game
Scoring systems:
1991-1994: 6 = win, 4 = SW, 2 = SL, 0 = Loss + 1 pt up to 3 gpg
1995: 3 = win, 2 = SW, 1 = SL, 0 = Loss.
1996: 3 = win, 1 = SW, 0 = loss or SL.
1990
Before the season, Miami changed their nickname to the Freedom. California changed their nickname to the Emperors. Salt Lake, Sacramento, and New Mexico were added.
G W T L GF GA PTS
EAST (ASL) CONFERENCE
North Division
Maryland Bays 20 15 0 5 42 29 44
Albany Capitals 20 14 0 6 35 22 42
Penn-Jersey Spirit 20 13 0 7 34 23 39
Boston Bolts 20 9 0 11 27 27 28
Washington Stars 20 7 0 13 24 28 22
New Jersey Eagles 20 6 0 14 21 38 17
South Division
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 20 15 0 5 38 22 45
Tampa Bay Rowdies 20 10 0 10 32 39 29
Orlando Lions 20 8 0 12 25 30 24
Miami Freedom 20 8 0 12 27 29 24
Washington Diplomats 20 5 0 15 22 40 16
Semifinals: Ft. Lauderdale defeated Albany, 3-2, 2-0
Maryland defeated Tampa Bay 2-1 (OT), 4-1
Finals: Maryland defeated Ft. Lauderdale, 3-2, 2-0
WEST (WSL) Conference
North Division
San Francisco Bay Blackhawks 20 13 0 7 39 30 104
Salt Lake Sting 20 12 0 8 39 34 104
Colorado Foxes 20 14 0 6 22 12 100
Portland Timbers 20 10 0 10 42 36 99
Seattle Storm 20 10 0 10 42 35 93
South Division
California Emperors 20 10 0 10 35 32 89
Los Angeles Heat 20 11 0 9 39 39 87
Real Santa Barbara 20 10 0 10 33 35 85
San Diego Nomads 20 8 0 12 22 28 67
New Mexico Chilies 20 7 0 13 25 45 61
Arizona Condors 20 5 0 15 29 51 59
First Round: Los Angeles defeated Santa Barbara 0-1, 2-1, 1-0 (MG)
Colorado defeated Salt Lake, 2-1, 4-1
Semifinals: Los Angeles 2 at California 0
Colorado 1 at San Francisco Bay 2
Finals: San Francisco Bay defeated Los Angeles 0-2, 2-1 (PK), 1-0 (MG)
CHAMPIONSHIP: Maryland defeated San Francisco Bay 2-1 (PK)
After the season, Portland, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Arizona, New Mexico, Boston, Washington Diplomats, Seattle, and Santa Barbara folded. Orlando was absorbed by Ft. Lauderdale and Washington Stars were absorbed by Maryland. San Diego and California left the league to play as amateur teams. Separate conferences were abolished and the league continued with two divisions.
1991
Pd W L WN WE WS LN LE LS G+ G- GD Pts
American Conference
Ft Lauderdale Strikers 21 15 6 11 0 4 3 1 2 39 21 +18 117
Albany Capitals 21 10 11 9 1 0 7 1 3 27 29 -2 92
Tampa Bay Rowdies 21 8 13 7 1 0 13 0 0 26 27 -1 69
Penn-Jersey Spirit 21 6 15 4 0 2 13 0 2 25 50 -25 61
Miami Freedom 21 6 15 5 0 1 14 1 0 19 53 -34 52
Western Conference
Maryland Bays 21 19 2 17 1 1 2 0 0 54 23 +31 158
SF Bay Blackhawks 21 17 4 12 1 4 2 1 1 33 16 +17 126
Colorado Foxes 21 13 8 11 1 1 7 0 1 36 27 +9 111
Salt Lake Sting * 20 3 17 3 0 0 14 1 2 12 22 -10 33
Semi-Finals: Albany Capitals defeated Maryland Bays 2-1 (OT), 2-1, 1-0 (PK)
San Francisco defeated Ft. Lauderdale, 1-0 (OT), 1-0 (OT)
CHAMPIONSHIP: San Francisco defeated Albany 1-3, 2-0, 1-0 (PK)
(*) Salt Lake folded before playing their last game. Consequently, several friendlies with CSL clubs Vancouver and Montreal, and the Colombian club Millionarios were included as "official" games to bring all clubs up to a total of 21 games played.
After the season, Albany, Penn-Jersey and Maryland folded.
1992
Pd W L WN WE WS LN LE LS G+ G- GD Pts
Colorado Foxes 16 11 5 10 0 1 5 0 0 26 18 +8 89
Tampa Bay Rowdies 16 10 6 8 1 1 4 1 1 34 25 +9 87
SF Bay Blackhawks 16 8 8 6 0 2 6 0 2 27 25 +2 73
Ft Lauderdale Strikers 16 7 9 4 2 1 8 0 1 25 23 +2 61
Miami Freedom 16 4 12 4 0 0 9 2 1 17 38 -21 43
Semifinals: Tampa Bay defeated San Francisco Bay, 2-1
Colorado defeated Ft. Lauderdale, 3-2 (PK)
CHAMPIONSHIP: Colorado defeated Tampa Bay, 1-0
After the season, Miami folded, and San Francisco joined the USISL.
1993
Before the season, Ft. Laduerdale and Los Angeles were added. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal joined the league from the defunct CSL.
Pd W L WN WE WS LN LE LS G+ G- GD Pts
Vancouver 86ers 24 15 9 11 2 2 8 0 1 43 35 +8 126
Colorado Foxes 24 15 9 12 0 3 6 3 0 40 34 +6 121
Tampa Bay Rowdies 24 12 12 10 2 0 10 1 1 53 47 +6 118
Los Angeles Salsa 24 12 12 8 1 3 9 0 3 41 37 +4 109
Toronto Blizzard 24 10 14 8 2 0 11 1 2 35 41 -6 97
Ft Lauderdale Strikers 24 9 15 8 0 1 11 1 3 39 52 -13 94
Montreal Impact 24 11 13 9 0 2 11 1 1 28 33 -5 90
Semi-finals: Los Angeles defeated Vancouver 2-2 (PK)
Colorado defeated Tampa Bay, 1-0
CHAMPIONSHIP: Colorado defeated Los Angeles, 3-1 (OT)
After the season, Tampa Bay folded.
1994
Before the season, Seattle was added.
Pd W L WN WE WS LN LE LS G+ G- GD Pts
Seattle Sounders 20 14 6 14 0 0 4 1 1 38 16 +22 121
Los Angeles Salsa 20 12 8 10 1 1 5 1 2 36 22 +14 106
Montreal Impact 20 12 8 10 0 2 7 0 1 27 18 +9 93
Colorado Foxes 20 12 8 9 1 2 8 0 0 26 26 0 92
Ft Lauderdale Strikers 20 8 12 5 1 2 9 0 3 23 33 -10 72
Vancouver 86ers 20 7 13 6 0 1 11 1 1 25 41 -16 65
Toronto Rockets 20 5 15 5 0 0 15 0 0 14 33 -19 44
Semi-Finals: Colorado defeated Seattle 2-0, 1-4, 1-0 (SO).
Montreal defeated Los Angeles, 2-1, 0-3, 1-0 (SO)
FINAL: Montreal defeated Colorado, 1-0
After the season, Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale and Toronto folded.
1995
Before the season, the league changed its name to the A-League. Atlanta and New York were added.
Pd W WS LS L GD G+ G- P+ Att.
Montreal Impact 24 16 1 1 6 +20 47 - 27 51 5,075
Seattle Sounders 24 13 5 2 4 +16 40 - 24 51 4,571
Vancouver 86ers 24 10 0 3 11 0 43 - 43 33 4,492
Atlanta Ruckus 24 5 8 1 10 -12 29 - 41 32 2,632
Colorado Foxes 24 7 1 6 10 -6 35 - 41 29 5,873
New York Centaurs 24 5 1 3 15 -18 21 - 39 20 1,461
Semifinals: Atlanta defeated Montreal 2-1 (SO), 0-3, 1-0 (SO)
Seattle defeated Vancouver, 1-0, 1-0 (SO)
FINAL: Seattle defeated Atlanta 1-2 (SO), 3-0, 2-1 (SO)
1996
Rochester Raging Rhinos were added. New York Centaurs absorbed the New York Fever of the USISL and were renamed the Fever.
GP W L SW GF GA Pts
Montreal Impact 27 17 6 4 40 18 55
Colorado Foxes 27 14 11 2 55 33 44
Seattle Sounders 27 12 11 4 35 25 40
Rochester Rhinos 27 11 13 3 44 42 36
Vancouver 86ers 27 10 14 3 38 38 33
New York Fever 27 6 18 3 30 40 21
Atlanta Ruckus 22 3 19 0 14 60 9
Semi-finals: Rochester defeated Montreal, 3-2, 0-3, 2-1
Seattle defeated Colorado, 1-0, 0-2, 3-0
CHAMPIONSHIP: Seattle defeated Rochester, 2-0.
Toronto and Hershey, PA were added after the end of the season.
* * * * * *
The A-League was absorbed by the USISL Select League at the end of 1996. The Select League adopted the A-League name, and all but one team (New York sat out 1997) joined the new setup, along with 16 USISL (mostly Select League) teams, creating a 24-team 4 division USSF-sanctioned Division 2 league. See the USISL standings section for subsequent league standings.