The American Indoor Soccer League was a semi-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 ...

league founded in 2002 and folded in 2008.

History

Founded in 2002, the AISL's headquarters were in

West Springfield, Massachusetts West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,835 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is also known as "West Si ...

, but the media relations office was in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The 2005–06 season started with promise, starting with six teams, but the New Mexico Storm and Detroit-Windsor Border Stars decided not to play in the AISL just before the season got under way. In 2006, the league announced the membership of the Canton Crusaders, but the team's membership was revoked after the ownership was unable to fulfill its financial obligations. In 2008 with the Cincinnati Excite going on hiatus, and the Massachusetts Twisters and Rockford Rampage moving to the

National Indoor Soccer League The National Indoor Soccer League (NISL) is an indoor soccer league that began play in 2021 and is based in the Southeast United States. The league fields men's and women's divisions. On March 24, 2021, the league announced its partnership with N ...

, the 2008–09 campaign was canceled. On December 23, 2008, all news stories were dropped from the website.

Rules

Like many other indoor soccer leagues, the AISL also had their own variations on the generally-followed indoor soccer rules. Some of these variations were: *A point system that consisted of 1, 2, and 3 point goals, depending on how far away from the net the shot was taken. *No three lines rule. *One

timeout Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

per half per team. * Similar to the MSL, a goalkeeper could "...not use his hands when team-mate passes the ball back. Only after a shot from the opposing team, can you pass back to the keepers hands inside your third line. ( Rebounds, etc...) No direct pass back to keeper outside the third of field to hands." *The clock did not stop unless the ball went out of play in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter.

Teams

Previous champions

Notable names

* Connally Edozien formerly of the

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's youth system and

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. Edozien has played in the USL with the

Rochester Raging Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos to ...

and is on contract with the Carolina RailHawks FC. *

Oscar Albuquerque Oscar Albuquerque (born September 4, 1954) is a Canadian former soccer midfielder. He spent most of his professional career playing indoor soccer with U.S. teams. He is currently the president of Pro Soccer International, an ownership group wh ...

current owner of the

Rockford Thunder Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name *Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United St ...

franchise played for Canada's 1980 Olympic qualifying team and in the National Professional Soccer League. *

Dayton O'Brien Dayton O’Brien (born October 29, 1983, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American soccer player, currently without a club. Youth O’Brien grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he played for the Memphis Rangers youth club. O’Brien and his Rangers ...

formerly with the University of Memphis, O'Brien was drafted by the Columbus Crew in 2006. O'Brien signed with the

Memphis Mojo The American Indoor Soccer League was a semi-professional indoor soccer league founded in 2002 and folded in 2008. History Founded in 2002, the AISL's headquarters were in West Springfield, Massachusetts, but the media relations office was in ...

for the 2006/2007 season. *

Everson Maciel Everson Martinelli Maciel (born 14 March 1978 in Londrina) is a Brazilian former footballer who spent the majority of his career with the Western Mass Pioneers in the United Soccer Leagues. He currently plays futsal for Safira FC and the United ...

of the

Western Mass Pioneers Western Mass Pioneers is an American soccer team based in Ludlow, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1998, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Lusitano Stadium, ...

signed with the

Massachusetts Twisters The Massachusetts Twisters were an American indoor soccer team that was based in West Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 2001, the team played in the Arena Soccer League and every American Indoor Soccer League season and played o ...

for the 2006/2007 season after good season in the

USL Second Division The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ( ...

earned Maciel a spot on the USL 2 All League Team. * Michael Todd of the New York Surf was selected by the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and ...

in the first round of the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft. *

Gary Flood Gary Flood (born September 7, 1985 in Hauppauge, New York) is an American soccer player who formerly plays for Long Island Rough Riders in the USL Premier Development League. Career College Flood attended Hauppauge High School and played four ...

of the New York Surf was also selected in the 2007 Supplemental but in the second round by the

References