The 1996 New England Revolution season was the inaugural season for the New England Revolution both as a club and in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS). The team finished last out of five teams in the Eastern Conference, missing the MLS Cup Playoffs. Following the team's last game of the season, head coach Frank Stapleton resigned on September 26, 1996. He was replaced by Thomas Rongen on November 5, 1996. Revolution forward Joe-Max Moore was named MLS Player of the Week for Week 18, and Alexi Lalas and Wélton were both named All-Stars for the

1996 MLS All-Star Game The 1996 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the first Major League Soccer All-Star Game, a soccer match involving all-stars from Major League Soccer. Teams of the best players from each conference played against each other at Giants Stadium, E ...

Pre-season

Initial player allocations

As part of Major League Soccer's first season, teams were each allocated four marquee players before the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United State ...

. On October 17, 1995, MLS allocated defender Alexi Lalas and defender Mike Burns to the Revolution. Lalas was a

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

regular who had played in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

and was under contract with Padova in Italy's Serie A, while Burns had played alongside Lalas for the United States in the 1992 Olympics and was playing for Viborg FF in Denmark's Superliga at the time. On February 5, 1996, MLS allocated American goalkeeper

Jim St. Andre Jim St. Andre is a retired U.S. soccer goalkeeper. He played professionally in the American Professional Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League and Major League Soccer. College St. Andre attended college and played men's soccer at t ...

of the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

's New York Centaurs and Italian forward Giuseppe Galderisi, Lalas' teammate at Padova, to the Revolution.

First head coach

On January 4, 1996, the team named Frank Stapleton the first head coach of the New England Revolution. Stapleton was an Irish international who had played for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Ajax, Blackburn Rovers, and Bradford City among others.

Draft results

Inaugural player draft

On February 6 and 7, 1996, New England selected 16 players in the Inaugural Player Draft.

College draft

On March 4, 1996, the Revolution selected Paul Keegan, Imad Baba, and Paulo Dos Santos in the College Draft.

Supplemental draft

Following the College Draft, the Revolution selected

Beto Naveda Alberto "Beto" Dante Naveda (born 24 May 1972 in San Juan, Argentina, is an Argentine former footballer who played as a striker. He played professionally in Argentina, Israel, Scotland and the United States. Career Naveda started his career w ...

, Wélton, and Zak Ibsen in the Supplemental Draft.

Competitions

Major League Soccer

Conference standings

Overall standings

Matches

Honors

* Team Most Valuable Player: Joe-Max Moore * Team Scoring Champion: Joe-Max Moore (23 pts, 11 G, 1 A) * Team Defender of the Year: Francis Okaroh * MLS All-Star Game Selections: Alexi Lalas, Wélton * MLS Player of the Week: Joe-Max Moore (Week 18)

References

{{1996 in American soccer New England Revolution seasons New England Revolution New England Revolution New England Revolution Sports competitions in Foxborough, Massachusetts