Mississauga MetroStars (briefly known as MetroStars Canada in 2019) were a professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

team which played its home games at the

Paramount Fine Foods Centre The Paramount Fine Foods Centre, formerly the Hershey Centre, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Its current name was adopted on July 1, 2018, following a new naming rights agreement with ...

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The team joined the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

for the 2018–19 season. The club featured former

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

players

Dwayne De Rosario Dwayne Anthony De Rosario OOnt (born May 15, 1978) is a Canadian former professional soccer player, who played as a forward or as an attacking midfielder. De Rosario last played for the Mississauga MetroStars of the Major Arena Soccer League. ...

Molham Babouli Molham "Mo" Babouli ( ar, مُلهَم بَابُولِيّ; born January 2, 1993) is a professional footballer who plays for York United of the Canadian Premier League. Born in the United Arab Emirates, he represented Canada at youth level and ...

and

Adrian Cann Adrian Cann (born September 19, 1980) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a defender for Canadian Soccer League club Serbian White Eagles FC. Career College Cann had a college soccer career at the University of Louisville from 2000 to 200 ...

on the roster in its first season. Just as the 2019–20 season began, it was announced the team would cease operations.

History

Background

Historically the Canadian professional indoor soccer landscape consisted of Canadian franchises in American leagues particularly in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). The height of Canadian participation in indoor soccer occurred during the 1980–81 and 1981–82 NASL seasons when four Canadian clubs participated simultaneously. The height of Canadian participation in the NPSL would eventually expand to include four teams, which consisted of the Edmonton Drillers, Montreal Impact,

Toronto Shooting Stars Toronto Shooting Stars were an indoor soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario that competed in the defunct NPSL. The team began play in the 1996-1997 season, with home games taking place at Maple Leaf Gardens. However, the ownership of the franc ...

, and

Toronto ThunderHawks Toronto ThunderHawks were an indoor soccer team based in Mississauga, Ontario that competed in the defunct NPSL. The team began play in the 2000–2001 season, with home games at the Hershey Centre. The team was owned by businessman Neil Ja ...

. After the demise of the NPSL in 2001 the country was without a professional league structure, until the creation of the

Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League The Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League or CMISL was a professional indoor soccer league that began full league play in January 2008. The league's president was Mel Kowalchuk. As the league has become affiliated with the Professional Arena Socce ...

(CMISL) in 2007. The league served as the first exclusively Canadian professional indoor soccer league, and was primarily based in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

until it ceased operations in 2012. In 2017, the Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA) was founded as the governing body for the sport in Canada. The CASA sanctioned the developmental Youth Arena Premier League and the semi-professional Arena Premier League – both based in Mississauga. The purpose of the Arena Premier League was to develop and provide talent to the Canadian national indoor team, and later to the MetroStars.

Formation and dissolution

The MetroStars were founded in 2018 and were one of 17 participants in the 2018–19 Major Arena Soccer League season. They made their debut on December 1 against the defending league champion

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...

. According to team owner Gladiator Sports, the MetroStars payroll for the year was about $500,000. The team finished the 2018–19 season 15th in the league with a record of 4 wins, 20 losses, and ranked 14th in attendance with an average of 1,020 per game. For the 2019–20 season, the team rebranded as MetroStars Canada. They planned to play their 12 home games in six cities across Ontario (St. Catharines, Kingston, Oshawa, Windsor, Sarnia, and Brampton) to spread awareness for the sport. Before playing a single game that season, the Major Arena Soccer League published a revised schedule that did not include the MetroStars. Six days later, the team confirmed that they would not be participating in the season due to issues coordinating their home matches.

2018–19 roster

Active players

*As of 24 August 2019

Inactive players

Head coaches

Records

Year-by-year

References

External links

Official website
{{Major Arena Soccer League Defunct Major Arena Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Ontario Sport in Mississauga Canadian indoor soccer teams 2018 establishments in Ontario Association football clubs established in 2018 Association football clubs disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in Ontario