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 West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was ...

, 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 In 2006, the league announced the membership of the Canton Crusaders, but the team's membership was revoked after the ownership was unable to fulfill its financial obligations.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 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 Connally Edozien (born 26 June 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Playing career Youth and College Edozien was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but spent much of his youth in London. He came to the United State ...

formerly of the

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's youth system and

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. 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

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. * Oscar Albuquerque 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 formerly with the University of Memphis, O'Brien was drafted by the

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in 2006. O'Brien signed with the Memphis Mojo for the 2006/2007 season. * Everson Maciel 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 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 (t ...

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 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