FC Inter-Montréal was a Canadian professional soccer team in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

that competed in the original Canadian Professional Soccer League in 1983.

History

On December 7, 1982, the Canadian Professional Soccer League announced their initial five ownership groups, of which one was to be headed by Bob Laker in Montreal. On February 7, 1983, the

Montreal Manic The Montreal Manic or the Manic de Montréal were a professional soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that played in the North American Soccer League. History "Le Manic" as they were called by the locals, were Montreal's first professi ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

had decided to transform themselves into a "Team Canada" farm team by the 1984 season. In doing so, they began to get rid of the majority of their non-Canadian players to field a primarily Canadian lineup. This had the effect of alienating their primarily Italian fanbase, resulting in attendance dropping 66%. FC Inter-Montreal (the name Inter-Pro was initially considered) was officially established the day after the Manic's announcement, when the CPSL was officially launched, and team president Bob Laker had hopes to make the club the model franchise for the league. He immediately set out on high-profile acquisitions, with the team having a reported $1.2 million budget, hiring former

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

and

coach Eddie Firmani and signing former Manic star players Gordon Hill and Bobby Vosmaer. The club also reached a local sponsorship deal with the

Labatt Brewing Company Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...

. They played their first match against the Toronto Nationals on May 21, losing by a score of 2–1. Their home opener took place at

Jarry Park Stadium Jarry Park Stadium ( ) is a former baseball stadium, home to the Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals), from 1969 Montreal Expos season, 1969 through 1976 Montreal Expos season, 1976, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Expos were Major ...

on June 5, 1983, against the Hamilton Steelers with Laker claiming an attendance of 12,412, which would have been larger than any Manic crowd that season. After the match, Montreal management denied a report that they handed out 5,000 free tickets to the match to boost attendance. However, ten days later, a match against Hamilton drew only 981 spectators, but most matches had around 5000-6000 people. Bob Laker organized a tournament featuring high-profile European clubs – French club

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and Italian clubs

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

and

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

. In their first match they managed to defeat Marseille 2–0 on June 13, advancing to the final a week later where they defeated Udinese in a penalty shootout following a 1–1 score after regulation on June 19, with British striker Gordon Hill scoring all of the team's goals in the tournament. However, just a week after their match against Udinese, and after only five weeks of play and eight league matches, Inter-Montreal folded midway through the season, due to heavy financial losses and being unable to pay their players and partially as a result of the money spent on the international exhibition tournament. The Manic also folded at the end of 1983, leaving Montreal with no professional teams until 1988, when

Montreal Supra Montreal Supra was a Soccer in Canada, Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec that played in the Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992), Canadian Soccer League from 1988 to 1992. History Montre ...

was formed to play in the new

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) 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 (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

. Attendance for these matches was approximately 12,000, boosted by the large Italian-Canadian population in Montreal.

Season

Notable players

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FC Inter-Montréal Defunct soccer clubs in Canada Inter-Montreal 1983 establishments in Quebec 1983 disestablishments in Quebec Association football clubs established in 1983 Association football clubs disestablished in 1983 1983 in Montreal