The Toronto Falcons were a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. They played only two years, 1967 in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and 1968 in 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 ...

(NASL). Their home field was

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the "Varsity Centre & Arena", a sports complex at the University of Toronto's St. George Campus. Athletic events have been hosted on the site ...

. During the 1967 season, while still in the NPSL, the Falcons drew an average of 3,792 people per game. Toronto's record for the 1967 season was a bearable 10–5–17. The following season, the NPSL merged with the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League ( ...

to form the NASL. Their intercity rival,

Toronto City Toronto City was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario. Between 1961 and 1967, teams using this name competed in both the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League and the United Soccer Association. History ECPSL In 1961, along wit ...

, of USL folded in the process after only one year. In the NASL, with the legendary

László Kubala László Kubala (10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian professional association football, footballer. He played as a forward (association football), forward for Ferencvárosi TC, Ferencváros, ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Slovan Bratislava, F ...

as their coach, the Falcons played well collecting a 13–6–13 record, but financial troubles caused the club (along with 11 others) to fold. Their average attendance for the 1968 season was 5,336 people per game. The NASL would return to Toronto in 1971 in the form of the

Toronto Metros Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Year-by-year

Players

During the 1967 season, the Falcons were able to sign Bill Brown a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who received 28 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in his career. Tony Lecce was a defender and Canadian international. Defender

Guglielmo Burelli Guglielmo Burelli (born 30 June 1936 in Vicenza) is a retired Italian professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association foo ...

played over 150 games in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, including one season for

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Other players worth noting are Iris DeBrito and

Yanko Daucik Yanko Daucik Ciboch (22 March 1941 – 13 May 2017) was a Czechoslovak professional footballer during the 1960s and 1970s. Yanko played for Real Betis, Real Madrid, the Toronto Falcons and RCD Español. Daucik is the son of Ferdinand Daučík ...

both prolific goal scorers, and John Lima from the first Spanish league. The team became something of a family affair with the addition of Daucik's brother in law

(player/coach) and nephew Branko Kubala to the squad, not to mention Yanko's father

Ferdinand Daučík Ferdinand Daučík (also known as Fernando Daucik; 30 May 1910 – 14 November 1986) was a Slovak football player and manager. Daučík was the manager of several La Liga clubs, most notably Barcelona, Atlético Bilbao, Atlético Madrid and Real ...

served as the head coach. In 1968, Salvadoran international

Raúl Magaña Raúl Alfredo Magaña Monzón (24 February 1940 – 30 September 2009) was a Salvadoran footballer and manager. Club career Magaña made his debut aged 18 against Deportivo Saprissa in Costa Rica, coming on as a sub for Humberto Pérez. He pla ...

appeared for the club.

Coaches

* Fernando Daucik *

Hector Marinaro, Sr. In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

References

{{North American Soccer League (1966–85) Association football clubs established in 1967 Defunct soccer clubs in Canada North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams North American Soccer League (1968–1984) teams based in Canada Fal National Professional Soccer League (1967) franchises 1967 in Canadian soccer 1968 in Canadian soccer 1967 establishments in Ontario 1968 disestablishments in Ontario