The 1991 National Soccer League season was the sixty-eighth season under the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL) name. The season concluded on September 22, 1991, with

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the foldin ...

securing the NSL Championship by finishing first in the standings by a single-point difference between Scarborough International and

St. Catharines Roma St. Catharines Roma Wolves (also known as St. Catharines Wolves or simply Roma Wolves), are a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1967. The team currently plays in the semi-professional League1 Ontario in both the men's and women's divisions. The ...

. The NSL Ontario Cup was claimed by

Toronto Argentina The North York Astros were a Canadian soccer team that was founded in 1990. The team initially played in the National Soccer League. The team played their home games at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York, a district of the city of Toronto, Ca ...

after defeating the

Toronto Jets The Toronto Jets was a S.S. Pauline Soccer Club team that played in the Minor Division (MD) of the Canadian National Soccer League, formerly the National Soccer League (N.S.L.) between 1977–1979, and perhaps as early as 1976. The 1976 and 1979 te ...

at Lamport Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto side would also add the NSL Canadian Cup to their résumé by defeating the Montreal Dollard at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard in Montreal, Quebec.

Overview

The membership in the league increased to a total of ten clubs from the nine of the previous season. Two of the new additions were revealed at the annual general meeting held in Toronto on December 2, 1990. NSL Second Division titleholders North York Strikers were promoted to the First Division, while Toronto International later relocated to Scarborough, Ontario returned to the league after a stint in the Ontario Soccer League. The

and Woodbridge Azzuri were also promoted to the First Division. While

was the lone expansion franchise that made its NSL debut in 1991. The increase in membership was rather poignant as the league lost two established clubs Toronto First Portuguese and Toronto Panhellenic due to a depletion of financial resources. America United and Oshawa Italia were the other two clubs that were disbanded. After establishing the necessary connections in the Quebec soccer structure league commissioner Rocco Lofranco announced potential expansion plans into the province. The member clubs also began the transition of recruiting more domestic players instead of relying on imports. After a series of philosophical differences and disputes with the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) about the structure of professional soccer officials from the NSL began negotiations with the CSA, which resulted in a friendly match between the Canadian Olympic team and

. The league continued operating the NSL Canadian Cup where the NSL Ontario Cup champions faced the league cup winner from the Quebec National Soccer League.

Teams

Final standings

Individual awards

The recipients for the annual NSL awards were announced on December 18, 1991, with members from London City, Toronto Croatia, and

receiving the awards. After successfully leading Italia to a championship title Peter Felicetti was named the Coach of the Year. Felicetti previously had managerial experience in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

, and later managed in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

with Toronto Rockets. London City's Paul Hillman was recognized as the Rookie of the Year. Ivica Raguž of Toronto Croatia was given the MVP award, and would ultimately play in the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

, and the

S. League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...

References

External links

RSSSF CNSL pagethecnsl.com - 1991 season
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Soccer League 1991 Season 1991–92 domestic association football leagues

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...