A-League
Season1996
ChampionsSeattle Sounders
(2nd title)
PremiersMontreal Impact
(2nd title)
Top goalscorerDoug Miller
(18 goals)
← 1995

The 1996 A-League season was the seventh and final season of the A-League. In 1997, the league merged to form the USISL A-League.

Regular season

Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Montreal Impact 27 17 4 6 40 18 +22 55
2 Colorado Foxes 27 14 2 11 55 33 +22 44
3 Seattle Sounders 27 12 4 11 35 25 +10 40
4 Rochester Rhinos 27 11 3 13 44 42 +2 36
5 Vancouver 86ers 27 10 3 14 38 38 0 33
6 New York Fever 27 6 3 18 30 40 −10 21
7 Atlanta Ruckus 22 3 0 19 14 60 −46 9
Source:
Rules for classification: 3 points for a win, 1 points for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss.

A significant number of postponed matches over the 1996 season by the Atlanta Ruckus, who underwent a change in ownership, ultimately forced the A-League to shorten the other teams' schedules by one match, reducing the total games played from 28 to 27. Atlanta's league position, in last place and already eliminated from the playoff contention, was not affected by the decision announced September 4, 1996. The Ruckus played a total of 22 games.[1]

Each team had their head-to-head schedule with Atlanta shortened by one, maintaining a balanced head-to-head competition against each other. The 1996 regular season ended on September 14 with the top four regular season teams advancing to the playoffs.

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals
Best-of-3 		1996 A-League Final
Single Match
          
1 Montreal Impact 2 3 1
4 Rochester Rhinos 3 0 2
4 Rochester Rhinos 0 - -
3 Seattle Sounders 2 - -
2 Colorado Foxes 0 2 0
3 Seattle Sounders 1 0 3

Semifinal 1

Montreal Impact (QC)2–3Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Nick DeSantis Red card 34:45'
Jason DeVos 50:31'
Lloyd Barker 56'		 Report Lenin Steenkamp 4'
Doug Miller 5'
Gustavo Villagra 71:33'
Attendance: 3,691
Rochester Rhinos (NY)0–3Montreal Impact (QC)
Report Onandi Lowe 53:06'
Eddy Berdusco 56:00'
Mauro Biello 89:00'
Attendance: 14,809

Semifinal 2

Colorado Foxes (CO)0–1Seattle Sounders (WA)
Report Niall Thompson 69'
Mile High Greyhound Park Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 2,134
Seattle Sounders (WA)0–2Colorado Foxes (CO)
Niall Thompson Yellow card 49'
Wade Webber Yellow card 73'		 Report Henrik Fig 31', 76'
Chris Sarver Yellow card 32'
Jerome Watson Yellow card 51'
Attendance: 3,102
Colorado Foxes (CO)0–3Seattle Sounders (WA)
Jason Farrell 27'
Niall Thompson 63', 70'
Mile High Greyhound Park Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 1,927

Final

Points leaders

Rank Scorer Club Goals Assists Points
1 Wolde Harris Colorado Foxes 17 8 42
2 Doug Miller Rochester Rhinos 18 2 38
3 Domenic Mobilio Vancouver 86ers 14 4 32
4 Lenin Steenkamp Atlanta Ruckus 9 5 23
5 Carsten Siersbaek Colorado Foxes 7 8 22
6 Eddy Berdusco Montreal Impact 8 3 19
Lloyd Barker Montreal Impact 6 7 19
8 Jason Farrell Seattle Sounders 6 5 17
9 Mauro Biello Montreal Impact 6 3 15
Walter Boyd Colorado Foxes 5 5 15
Anthony McCreath Colorado Foxes 5 5 15
Hector Marinaro Rochester Rhinos 4 7 15
13 Chance Fry Seattle Sounders 6 2 14
Jorge Acosta New York Fever 5 4 14

Honors

References

  1. ↑ Pursel, Brad (September 4, 1996). "A-League September Schedule". A-League.
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