1976 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1976. This was the 9th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league's twenty teams were divided into two conferences, playing a total of 240 matches. Each team's 24 matches were divided between a round-robin with other teams in the same conference and six matches against different teams in the other conference. Points were awarded for wins and each goal regardless of results; ties in regulation were decided by 15 minutes of sudden death overtime followed by a penalty shootout from. The playoffs were expanded from eight to twelve teams with automatic berths for the top two teams in each of the four divisions and two wild card slots per conference for the remaining best finishing teams.
The Toronto Metros-Croatia defeated the Minnesota Kicks in the Soccer Bowl on August 28 to win the championship. The match was hosted at the Kingdome in Seattle, the new home of the Seattle Sounders. The Tampa Bay Rowdies finished the regular season with the best record, giving them consecutive titles in three different domestic NASL competitions. Though not in a calendar year, within 12 months they won the Soccer Bowl in August 1975, the NASL indoor cup in March 1976, and the [|regular season shield] or premiership in August 1976. Since NASL teams at that time did not participate in the U.S. Open Cup, this would be the closest one would ever come to achieving any sort of a North American treble.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

None

Teams folding

None

Teams moving

Baltimore Comets to San Diego Jaws
Denver Dynamos to Minnesota Kicks

Name changes

None

Regular season

Pld = Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, BP = Bonus Points, Pts= total points
6 points for a win,
1 point for a shootout win,
0 points for a loss,
1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team	Honorable Mention
Arnie Mausser, Tampa Bay	G	Eric Martin, Washington	Paolo Cimpiel, Toronto
Keith Eddy, New York	D	Stewart Jump, Tampa Bay	Dave Gillett, Seattle
Bobby Moore, San Antonio	D	George Ley, Dallas	Frank Spraggon, Minnesota
Tommy Smith, Tampa Bay	D	Ron Webster, Minnesota	Jim Holton, Miami
Mike England, Seattle	D	Bob Smith, Philadelphia	Bruce Wilson, Vancouver
Rodney Marsh, Tampa Bay	M	Alan West, Minnesota	Dave Clements, New York
Ramón Mifflin, New York	M	Bobby Hope, Dallas	Wolfgang Sühnholz, Toronto
António Simões, San Jose	M	Al Trost, St. Louis	Charlie Cooke, Los Angeles
Pelé, New York	F	Derek Smethurst, Tampa Bay	Jimmy Robertson, Seattle
George Best, Los Angeles	F	Jeff Bourne, Dallas	Mark Liveric, San Jose
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York	F	Stewart Scullion, Tampa Bay	Tommy Ord, Vancouver

Playoffs

All playoff games in all rounds including Soccer Bowl '76 were single game elimination match ups.

First round

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Conference semifinals

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Conference Championships

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Soccer Bowl '76

1976 NASL Champions: Toronto Metros-Croatia

Post season awards

Most Valuable Player: Pelé, New York
Coach of the year: Eddie Firmani, Tampa Bay
Rookie of the year: Steve Pecher, Dallas
North American Player of the Year: Arnie Mausser, Tampa Bay

Attendances

Club	Games	Total	Average
Seattle Sounders	12	285,941	23,828
Minnesota Kicks	12	277,404	23,117
Portland Timbers	12	241,996	20,166
San Jose Earthquakes	12	231,338	19,278
New York Cosmos	12	218,719	18,227
Tampa Bay Rowdies	12	197,429	16,452
Dallas Tornado	12	169,113	14,093
Vancouver Whitecaps	12	103,877	8,656
Los Angeles Aztecs	12	96,606	8,051
San Diego Jaws	12	73,822	6,152
St. Louis Stars	12	73,795	6,150
Washington Diplomats	12	71,554	5,963
Philadelphia Atoms	12	67,413	5,618
Chicago Sting	12	66,933	5,578
Toronto Metros	12	66,663	5,555
Rochester Lancers	12	61,906	5,159
San Antonio Thunder	12	57,524	4,794
Hartford Bicentennials	12	41,037	3,420
Miami Toros	12	36,843	3,070
Boston Minutemen	12	30,971	2,581

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