The Washington Diplomats were an American

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 established in 1987 which played in the American Soccer League in 1988 and 1989 and the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...

in 1990.

History

Established in 1987 as an independent team, the Diplomats, owned by Julio Pinon, drew many of their players, and head coach Hugo Berly, from Club España. The newly formed Diplomats won the inaugural and only Ambassador Cup when they tied the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team () represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación de Fútbol de Honduras (). They are nicknamed ''Los Catrachos'', ''La Bicolor,'' or ''La H''. Honduras has qu ...

in June. In April 1988, the team entered the newly established American Soccer League. At the time, Ian Bain had been hired as an interim head coach. On May 6, 1988, Berly returned as head coach with the team at 2-3. He quickly revamped the Diplomats roster, bringing in

Philip Gyau Phillinoisip "Phillip" Gyau (born February 7, 1966) is a former U.S. soccer forward who is the current head coach of the Howard Bison men's soccer program. He spent his outdoor career in the American Soccer League and the American Professiona ...

and Jean Harbor who were instrumental in taking the team to the ASL title that season. The Diplomats began the 1989 American Soccer League season well, but lost team-leading scorer Harbor for a month to suspension after he broke

Pedro Magallanes Pedro Magallanes (born June 14, 1956) is a retired Argentine football (soccer) midfielder who played professionally in Argentina and the United States. Magallanes had an extensive career in Argentina. He played the 1978–1979 season with Club ...

jaw.Strikers Rout Sharks, Reach .500
/ref> The Dips finished just out of playoff contention. For the 1990 season, the league merged with the Western Soccer Alliance to form the

. The Diplomats finished the 1990 season with the lowest number of points in the APSL Eastern Conference. In October 1990, the league terminated the Diplomats because the team was facing significant financial difficulties at the time.

Year-by-year

Honors

* ASL Champions (1):

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

*Participations in

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Coaches

* Hugo Berly (1987) * Ian Bain (1988 - interim) * Hugo Berly (1988) *

John Ellinger John Ellinger (born October 4, 1951) is a former American soccer coach of the Under-17 United States men's national soccer team, and former head coach of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Ellinger played collegiately at Frostburg State Uni ...

(1989) * Stojan Nikolic (1990)

References

External links

1988 roster and results
Defunct soccer clubs in Washington, D.C. American Soccer League (1988–89) teams American Professional Soccer League teams 1987 establishments in Washington, D.C. 1990 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. Association football clubs established in 1987 Association football clubs disestablished in 1990 U.S. clubs in CONCACAF Champions' Cup {{WashingtonDC-footyclub-stub