The 1996 Major League Soccer season was the inaugural season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 84th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, and the 18th with a national first-division league in the United States.

Overview

Preparation for first season

Major League Soccer had originally intended to begin competitive action in 1995. Various difficulties forced the league to postpone its first season until 1996. In preparation for its first season, the league began signing what it called marquee players, beginning with

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, ...

on January 3, 1995. Beginning in October 1995, the league apportioned the marquee players in the

1996 MLS Inaugural Allocations The Major League Soccer Inaugural Allocations were signed by the league beginning with Tab Ramos on January 5, 1995. Major League Soccer then distributed to the ten initial teams prior to the beginning of the inaugural 1996 season. Each team was ...

. Each team received two national team and two foreign players in the allocation. The league then invited about 250 players to a tryout the second week of January 1996 on the campus of

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** ''University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the t ...

. On February 6 and 7, 1996, the league held its 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft in which the ten teams selected 160 players over sixteen rounds. The

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

selected

Brian McBride Brian Robert McBride (born June 19, 1972) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward for Columbus Crew, Fulham and Chicago Fire. He is the fifth-highest all-time leading goalscorer for the United States national team. For m ...

with the first pick of the draft. On March 4, 1996, the league then held the

1996 MLS College Draft The 1996 Major League Soccer College Draft was held on March 4, 1996, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. History As Major League Soccer prepared for its first season, the league began stocking teams with players. As the teams were being created at the s ...

followed by the

1996 MLS Supplemental Draft The 1996 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft was held on March 4, 1996, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. History As Major League Soccer prepared for its first season, the league began stocking teams with players. As the teams were being created at ...

later that day. Despite the numerous drafts, the teams were not obligated to sign only players from the drafts.

Preseason

The preseason began the first week of March. The teams reduced their rosters to twenty-two players by March 25 and had to make a final roster reduction to eighteen by April 15. The teams had a $1,200,000 salary cap with no player allowed to receive more than $192,500. In order to promote American players, teams were limited to five foreigners on the roster.

Season

The teams played thirty-two games each. Each regulation win was worth three points, a loss counted for zero and a shootout win earned a team one point. Fear of alienating fans with tied games had led the league to adopting the shootout when games ended even. The league also adopted a countdown clock instead of running clock, unlike IFAB's standards, but did it away starting with

MLS Cup 1999 MLS Cup 1999 was the fourth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship soccer match of Major League Soccer (MLS) that decided the champion of the 1999 season. It took place on November 21, 1999, at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, ...

. The league also divided the teams equally into two conferences – Eastern and Western. The league began its first season on Saturday, April 6, 1996, when the San Jose Clash hosted

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

at Spartan Stadium.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

carried the game live which the Clash won on a goal by Eric Wynalda. That goal was selected as the 1996 MLS Goal of the Year. The regular season ended on September 22. The playoffs began two days later.

Stadiums

Standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall standings

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

* Best of Three series winners will advance.

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference * D.C. United wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals. ---- * Tampa Bay Mutiny wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals. ---- Western Conference * Kansas City Wiz wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals. ---- * Los Angeles Galaxy wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals.

Conference finals

Eastern Conference * D.C. United wins series 2–0, advances to MLS Cup '96. ---- Western Conference * Los Angeles Galaxy wins series 2–0, advances to MLS Cup '96.

MLS Cup

* D.C. United and Los Angeles Galaxy earn a berth to the

1997 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 1997 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 33rd. edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...

Player awards

Weekly awards

Monthly awards

End-of-season awards

Player statistics

Top goal scorers

Goalkeeping leaders

(Minimum 1,000 minutes)

Attendance

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Timo Liekoski Timo Liekoski (born June 30, 1942) is a Finnish soccer coach who managed teams in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, American Indoor Soccer Association and Major League Soccer. He currently holds a variety of coach ...

and Tom Fitzgerald *

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

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 compe ...

Frank Stapleton Francis Anthony Stapleton (born 10 July 1956) is an Irish former professional football player and manager. He is best remembered for his time at Arsenal, Manchester United and as a pivotal player for the Republic of Ireland national team. H ...

New York/New Jersey MetroStars New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

Eddie Firmani Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani (; born 7 August 1933) is a former professional football player and manager. A former forward, he spent most of his career in Italy and England. Born in South Africa, he represented the Italy national team internat ...

and

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirat ...

Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium. The ...

Thomas Rongen Thomas Eddy Rongen (born 31 October 1956) is a Dutch American football coach who has spent the majority of his playing and coaching career in the United States. In December 2016, he was named Chief Scout of the United States Men's National Team. ...

Western Conference

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

Bob Houghton Robert Douglas Houghton (born 30 October 1947) is an English football manager and former player. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 countries. He is most famous for taking Swedish club Malmö FF to the 1979 European Cup Final, where th ...

and

Roy Wegerle Roy Wegerle (born March 19, 1964) is a former United States men's national soccer team, United States international association football, soccer player who appeared for the national team 41 times between 1992 and 1998. Born and raised in South Afr ...

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

: Dave Dir *

Kansas City Wiz Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

Ron Newman Ronald Vernon Newman (19 January 1934 – 27 August 2018) was an English professional association football player and coach. He was a member of the American National Soccer Hall of Fame. Life Born in Fareham, Newman, after non-league footbal ...

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

Lothar Osiander Lothar Osiander (born November 8, 1939) is a German soccer coach who has served as head coach to the U.S. national and Olympic teams as well as the Atlanta Ruckus, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash. Biography Osiander moved to the United ...

* San Jose Clash: Laurie Calloway

References

External links

1996 MLS Regular Season stats

{{Major League Soccer seasons Major League Soccer seasons 1