The Miami Sharks were an inaugural franchise of the third incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1988. The team was renamed the Miami Freedom and joined 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 when the ASL merged with the

Western Soccer League The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

. The club played in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Julio Moreira, a native of Ecuador, was team president and general manager during 1990–1991. He was replaced as team president by David A. Donet, Esq. during a restructuring that also saw the firing of head coach David Irving.

1990

In 1990, the Miami Freedom played their first seasons in the new

(APSL) in the South Division of the league's East Conference. The other members of the division included the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

, which won the division that year, the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

Orlando Lions The Orlando Lions were an American men's soccer team from Orlando, Florida which existed from 1985 to 1996. Over the years, the Lions competed at both the amateur and professional levels including some seasons as an independent team. The Lions ...

and

Washington Diplomats The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. A ...

. While the Freedom were one of the best defensive teams in the league, having only 25 goals scored against them, they had difficulty scoring. The team's leading scorer, Laszlo Barna, with 7 goals and 5 assists, finished the season 18th in the league's ranking. The Miami Freedom finished this season with an 8-12. Despite this record, the team fell just one victory short of reaching post-season play.

Rosters

1988:

Windsor del Llano Windsor Alfredo del Llano Suárez (born 17 August 1949 in Cochabamba, Bolivia) is a retired football forward who earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973 and another thirty with Bolivia between 1975 and 1981. He played professionall ...

, Jerry DiPiero,

Troy Edwards Troy Edwards (born April 7, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, became one of ...

, Joao Carlos Fietoza, Juan Carlos Gómez, Patrick Johnson, Ricardo Johnson, Paul Khoury, Tommy Lehoczky, Dan Pingrey, Guillermo Pizarro Vaca, Pedro Tavares, Jody Weil, Marc Wolff, Mathieu St. Pierre 1989: Maicol Antelo, Mark Barnett, Scott Bauer, Dennis Brose, Mirko Castillo, Mario Chavez,

Teófilo Cubillas Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is considered Peru's greatest ever player and one of the best in the history of South America. In an IFFHS poll he wa ...

, Euclides DeGouveia,

Dirceu Dirceu José Guimarães, known as Dirceu (; 15 June 1952 – 15 September 1995), was a Brazilian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, notably for Botafogo and the Brazil national team as well as numerous Italian teams in the 1980s� ...

, Jerry DiPiero, Tchaly Eleazard, Juan Carlos Gómez, Wellington Guerra, Brian Japp, Ricardo Johnson, Hughes Joseph, Francisco Lopez, Willington Oritz, Dan Pingrey, Guillermo Pizarro Vaca,

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and coach. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign wi ...

, Luis Reyna, Arnold Siegmund, Pedro Tavares, Huber Vallejos 1990: Laszlo Barna, Mark Barnett, Michael Brown, Paul Carollo, Euclides DeGouveia, Ricardo Dillon,

Ian Fairbrother Ian Fairbrother (born 2 October 1966) is an English retired footballer. He spent the majority of his career in the United States. He spent his youth career with Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, but began his professional career in 1984 ...

, Elias Feanny, Joao Carlos Fietoza, Joseph Flood, Decio Guimarães, Timo Hamalainen, Brian Japp, Patrick Johnson, Steve Kinsey, David Kulik, Dorian Mesa, Fernando Ramos, Rick Rivera-Gomez, Arnold Siegmund 1991: Celvin Alonzo,

Ricardo Alonso Ricardo Alonso (born 21 March 1957) is a former soccer player who began as a forward before moving to defender later in his career. Alonso spent six seasons in the North American Soccer League, four in Major Indoor Soccer League, at least thr ...

, Alex Bahr, Laszlo Barna, Mark Barnett, Brown, Kenny Borden, Juan Castillo, Chrinos, Hugo DeCasanova, Euclides DeGouveia,

Paul Dougherty Paul Dougherty may refer to: * Paul Dougherty (footballer) * Paul Dougherty (artist) Paul Hampden Dougherty (September 6, 1877 – January 9, 1947) was an American marine painter. Dougherty (pronounced dog-er-tee) was recognized for his Americ ...

, John Garvey,

Grant Gibbs Grant Gibbs is a former U.S. soccer defender who spent his professional career in clubs F.C. Portland, Seattle Storm and Miami Freedom. Biography Gibbs grew up in Federal Way, Washington, where he attended Thomas Jefferson High School. After g ...

Rick Iversen Rick Iversen is a retired American soccer defender who played professionally in the American Professional Soccer League and USISL. Youth In 1987, Iversen, in his only season with the San Diego State University men's soccer team, went to the final ...

, Brian Japp,

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 ...

Jimmy McGeough Jimmy McGeough (born 13 August 1944) is a Northern Irish former football player and manager. Playing and coaching career His clubs included Derry City, Lincoln and Waterford United. Joining Derry in July 1963 he was part of the only Derry Ci ...

, Dorian Mesa,

Dale Mulholland Dale Mulholland (born August 16, 1964) is a former American soccer player and coach. As a player, he played in West Germany, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and his native United States. His most notable achievement as a player was signing for ...

, Benjamin Ortiz, Fernando Ramos,

Ken Snow Kenneth Snow (June 23, 1969 – June 21, 2020) was an American soccer forward who was a two-time winner of the Hermann Trophy as the outstanding college soccer player in 1988 and 1990. He had an eight-year professional career playing indoor soc ...

, Juan Valencia, Huber Vallejo, Tony DePhillips, Patrick Johnson 1992: Jose Angulo, Kossivi Asare-Kokou, Mark Barnett,

Scott Benedetti Scott "Benny" Benedetti (born November 13, 1966, in Portland, Oregon) is an American retired soccer player. He began his professional career with the semi-professional F.C. Portland in 1986 and ended it with the U.S. second division club Portland ...

, Roger Campagnola, Juan Castillo, Javier Centeno,

Zico Doe Ezekiel Koffa "Zico" Doe is a retired Liberian footballer who played as a forward professionally in the American Professional Soccer League, Major Soccer League and National Professional Soccer League. He was the 1991 American Professional Socc ...

, Miljice Donev, Chris Edwinson, Kevin Grimes, Darrin Karuzas, John Boa, John Klein,

John Maessner John Maessner (born June 2, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who spent six seasons in Major League Soccer, two in France, two in USISL, two in the National Professional Soccer League and one in Germany. Playing career Yout ...

, Diego Mandagaran, Luis Medina, Dorian Mesa,

, Victor Ogunsanya, Boniface Okafor, Rodrique Rocques,

Derek Sanderson Derek Michael Sanderson (born June 16, 1946), nicknamed "Turk", is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and two-time Stanley Cup champion who helped transform the culture of the professional athlete in the 1970s era. He set up the e ...

Arturo Velazco Arturo Velazco is an American former soccer defender. He played four seasons in the Western Soccer Alliance, five in the American Professional Soccer League, at least three in the National Professional Soccer League and one in the Continental Ind ...

, Scoop Stanisic, Wilmer Ochoa

Coaches

Carlos Alberto Torres Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres (17 July 1944 – 25 October 2016), also known as "O Capitão do Tri", was a Brazilian football player and manager who played as an attacking right-sided full-back or wing-back. A technically gifted defender wi ...

1988 *

Wim Suurbier Wilhelmus Lourens Johannes Suurbier (; 16 January 1945 – 12 July 2020) was a Dutch professional footballer and among others assistant coach of the Albania national team. He played as a right back and was part of the Netherlands national team ...

1989 *

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, especially Nazi Germany. He was found to be a Holocaust denier in a British court ...

(1990–1991) * Jorge Alzerreca (1991) * Amancio Suarez (1992)

Year-by-year

1992 Professional Cup – North American Club Championship

The

Professional Cup The Professional Cup was an international soccer tournament that took place in 1992 and involved eight, professional clubs from three different leagues in North America; the American Professional Soccer League, the Canadian Soccer League, and the ...

was a North American club tournament played in 1992. It involved eight teams from the APSL, the

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 ...

, and the National Professional Soccer League. The Miami Freedom were the only APSL club that did not advance beyond the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals

''Fort Lauderdale advances on aggregate, 5–2.''

References

{{American Professional Soccer League seasons

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

Defunct soccer clubs in Florida American Soccer League (1988–89) teams American Professional Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Florida 1988 establishments in Florida 1992 disestablishments in Florida Association football clubs established in 1988 Association football clubs disestablished in 1992