1996 A-League
Football league season
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The 1996 A-League season was the seventh and final season of the A-League. In 1997, the league merged to form the USISL A-League.
| Season | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Seattle Sounders (2nd title) |
| Premiers | Montreal Impact (2nd title) |
| Matches | 92 |
| Goals | 256 (2.78 per match) |
| Best player |  Wolde Harris, Colorado Foxes |
| Top goalscorer |  Doug Miller, Rochester Raging Rhinos(18 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper |  Paolo Ceccarelli, Montreal Impact |
← 1995 | |
Regular season
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 27 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 55 |
| 2 | Colorado Foxes | 27 | 14 | 2 | 11 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 44 |
| 3 | Seattle Sounders | 27 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 40 |
| 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 27 | 11 | 3 | 13 | 44 | 42 | +2 | 36 |
| 5 | Vancouver 86ers | 27 | 10 | 3 | 14 | 38 | 38 | 0 | 33 |
| 6 | New York Fever | 27 | 6 | 3 | 18 | 30 | 40 | −10 | 21 |
| 7 | Atlanta Ruckus | 22 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 14 | 60 | −46 | 9 |
Rules for classification: 3 points for a win, 1 points for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss.
A significant number of postponed matches over the 1996 season by the Atlanta Ruckus, who underwent a change in ownership, ultimately forced the A-League to shorten the other teams' schedules by one match, reducing the total games played from 28 to 27. Atlanta's league position, in last place and already eliminated from the playoff contention, was not affected by the decision announced September 4, 1996. The Ruckus played a total of 22 games.[1]
Each team had their head-to-head schedule with Atlanta shortened by one, maintaining a balanced head-to-head competition against each other. The 1996 regular season ended on September 14 with the top four regular season teams advancing to the playoffs.
Playoffs
Bracket
| Semifinals (best-of-3) | 1996 A-League Final | ||||||||||
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 2 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 3 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | Seattle Sounders | 2 | |||||||||
| 2 | Colorado Foxes | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||
| 3 | Seattle Sounders | 1 | 0 | 3 | |||||||
Semifinal 1
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 2–3 | Rochester Rhinos (NY) |
|---|---|---|
Nick DeSantis  34:45'Jason DeVos  (50:31)Lloyd Barker 56' |
Report | Lenin Steenkamp 4' Doug Miller 5'Gustavo Villagra (71:33) |
| Rochester Rhinos (NY) | 0–3 | Montreal Impact (QC) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Onandi Lowe (53:06) Eddy Berdusco (56:00)Mauro Biello (89:00) |
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 1–2 | Rochester Rhinos (NY) |
|---|---|---|
| Mauro Biello (14:56) |
Report | Rene Rivas (25:53), 55' |
Semifinal 2
| Colorado Foxes (CO) | 0–1 | Seattle Sounders (WA) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Niall Thompson 69' |
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 0–2 | Colorado Foxes (CO) |
|---|---|---|
Niall Thompson  49'Wade Webber 73' |
Report | Henrik Fig 31', 76' Chris Sarver 32'Jerome Watson 51' |
| Colorado Foxes (CO) | 0–3 | Seattle Sounders (WA) |
|---|---|---|
| Jason Farrell 27' Niall Thompson 63', 70' |
Final
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 2–0 | Rochester Rhinos (NY) |
|---|---|---|
| Niall Thompson 10' Joey Leonetti (71:20)Niall Thompson 87' |
Report 1 Report 2 |
Tommy Tanner 27' Yogi McKay 53'Rene Rivas 87' |
Points leaders
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wolde Harris |
Colorado Foxes | 17 | 8 | 42 |
| 2 | Doug Miller |
Rochester Rhinos | 18 | 2 | 38 |
| 3 | Domenic Mobilio |
Vancouver 86ers | 14 | 4 | 32 |
| 4 |  Lenin Steenkamp |
Atlanta Ruckus | 9 | 5 | 23 |
| 5 |  Carsten Siersbaek |
Colorado Foxes | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| 6 | Eddy Berdusco |
Montreal Impact | 8 | 3 | 19 |
| Lloyd Barker |
Montreal Impact | 6 | 7 | 19 | |
| 8 | Jason Farrell |
Seattle Sounders | 6 | 5 | 17 |
| 9 | Mauro Biello |
Montreal Impact | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| Walter Boyd |
Colorado Foxes | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
| Anthony McCreath |
Colorado Foxes | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
| Hector Marinaro |
Rochester Rhinos | 4 | 7 | 15 | |
| 13 | Chance Fry |
Seattle Sounders | 6 | 2 | 14 |
| Jorge Acosta |
New York Fever | 5 | 4 | 14 |
Honors
- MVP:
Wolde Harris - Leading goal scorer:
Doug Miller - Leading goalkeeper:
Paolo Ceccarelli - Rookie of the Year: Wolde Harris
- Coach of the Year: Lorne Donaldson
- Defender of the Year: John Limniatis
- Official of the Year: Kevin Skinner
- First Team All League
- Goalkeeper: Paolo Ceccarelli
- Defenders: John Limniatis, Wade Webber, Carlos Llamosa,
Rene Rivas - Midfielders: Nick DeSantis, Martin Nash, Anthony McCreath
- Forwards: Wolde Harris, Domenic Mobilio, Doug Miller
- Goalkeeper:
