The Winnipeg Fury were a professional soccer team in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

, Canada. The team was part of 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 ...

from 1987 to 1992. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of the CSL. In 1993, they played in the Canadian National Soccer League.

History

The Fury were founded by Ralph Cantafio, who served as team president and chairman of the board. The club served as the first iteration of professional soccer in the province of Manitoba. Debuting in the inaugural 1987 CSL season, the Fury struggled winning only five of their twenty games, finishing last in their division. They improved in their second season, qualifying for the playoffs, defeating

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

in the first round, before falling to eventual champions

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

. After some up and down years, the Fury won the CSL Championship in 1992, defeating the four-time defending champion Vancouver 86ers over the two-game series, by a 3–1 aggregate score (2–0 in the first leg in Vancouver, followed by a 1–1 draw at home, Prior to the win in the first leg, the club had lost every match they had played in Vancouver. They won the title despite having started the 1992 season poorly, where they were sitting in last place with a record of 3–1–10 with only three weeks remaining in the regular season, before winning 5 of their final 6 league matches to qualify for the playoffs. The league folded following the season, resulting in the team being the league's final champions of the Mita Cup. The 1992 Fury team was inducted into the Manitoba Hall of Fame in 2008, donating the Mita Cup trophy to the Hall. Following the folding of the CSL after the 1992 season, the Fury joined the Canadian National Soccer League for the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The White House (Moscow), Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Cze ...

, although much of their roster from the previous season had departed the club. The club disbanded following the season, marking the end of professional soccer in Winnipeg for 26 years. Soccer returned to Winnipeg in 2011, with

WSA Winnipeg FC Manitoba is a Canadian soccer team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the United States soccer league system. The club was founded in 2010 as WSA Winnipeg. In 2020, the club was acquired by a n ...

joining the pre-professional

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performance P ...

(PDL). Professional soccer returned to the city in 2019, with

Valour FC Valour Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home matches at IG Field. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owne ...

joining the new

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

Seasons

Notable players

References

{{Canadian National Soccer League Canadian National Soccer League teams Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) teams Defunct soccer clubs in Canada 1987 establishments in Manitoba 1993 disestablishments in Manitoba Association football clubs established in 1987 Association football clubs disestablished in 1993