The London Lasers were a professional soccer team in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, Canada that played in the original

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) 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 (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

in 1990 and 1992.

History

The London Lasers were founded in 1990 as an expansion franchise in the

. The club spent a great deal of money to secure out of town players for their debut season and had a crowd of approximately 2700 people for their opening match against the

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: *Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League *Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League *Toronto Azzurri B ...

. However, crowds quickly dwindled to sizes of 200, with many complimentary tickets given out, putting the club under tremendous financial strain, in which they were forced to trade many of their more expensive players to the Hamilton Steelers. They also played an exhibition match against London City of the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

for local bragging rights, winning by a score of 3–2. The team finished the season with only 2 wins across their 26 matches to finish last in the division and the league. The club requested a leave of absence for the 1991 season, before officially folding in March. In 1992, the Lasers were set to be re-founded by local businessman, Bob Facca. However, the new team folded prior to the start of the 1992 season, following a non-appearance of the

North York Rockets The North York Rockets were a professional soccer team based in North York, Toronto, Ontario that competed in the original Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992), Canadian Soccer League. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of ...

for an exhibition game, when it became clear that Facca would not be able to make the financial commitment necessary to operate a team in the national professional league. However, the Canadian Olympic squad, under coach Paul James was recruited to make a team to play under the London Lasers name for 1992. The Lasers narrowly missed the playoffs, amid rumours that the team was told to cut their expenses by the league. By the end of the season, average attendance had increased to approximately 400 spectators and interest for the team was growing in the season; however, the league folded following the season after the defection of three of the league's six franchises -

Vancouver 86ers 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. The Met ...

Montreal Supra Montreal Supra was a Soccer in Canada, Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec that played in the Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992), Canadian Soccer League from 1988 to 1992. History Montre ...

and the

to the US-based

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. ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

joined the NSL, with the Lasers being the only one of the six CSL clubs to fold completely upon the dissolution of the league.

Seasons

Notable players

References

{{Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) Canadian National Soccer League teams Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) teams Defunct soccer clubs in Canada 1990 establishments in Ontario Association football clubs established in 1990 Association football clubs disestablished in 1992