The 1984 North American Soccer League season was the 72nd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 17th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada. It would be the 17th and final season of the NASL.
By 1983, the NASL had shrank to half of the 24 teams that made up the league in 1980. The ongoing salary war with the Major Indoor Soccer League had taken its toll, along with shrinking attendances and a lack of interest from American network TV broadcasters. The league made plans to have both an outdoor and indoor presence, with a 24-game outdoor season and 40-game indoor season scheduled for 1984 and beyond.
The winter of 1983 saw three more teams fall by the wayside. The Montreal Manic, Team America, and Seattle Sounders would all fold. On top of that, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers decided to move to Minnesota due to a lack of suitable indoor arenas in the local area. Things had gotten so bad for the league that the champion Tulsa Roughnecks almost folded two weeks after winning the Soccer Bowl. They survived, thanks to a fundraiser that put $65,000 in the team's coffers. The league would soldier on with nine teams. While there wouldn't be huge changes on the field, the single game Soccer Bowl would be no more as the league moved to a best-of-three championship series format. The revised NASL playoff format had the two division winners and the two next best teams qualify. The four teams would be seeded 1 to 4.
When the season finally got underway in May, the nine teams were bunched together for most of the year as six teams finished within five points of each other. A hoped-for renaissance in New York never materialized, as the return of former Cosmos coach Eddie Firmani didn't lead the team back to the playoffs. Rumors about a possible return by Pelé proved to be without merit. However, not everyone struggled on the field. In Oakland, Steve Zungul and Branko Segota were able to translate their talents from the MISL to the outdoor game, finishing 1-2 in the league's scoring race. Zungul would earn league MVP honors despite the Golden Bay Earthquakes' last-place finish.
The Chicago Sting won the last NASL title with a two-game sweep over the Toronto Blizzard. The Sting needed a last-second victory over the Cosmos in their season finale to qualify for the playoffs and knock New York out. They won a deciding game over the Vancouver Whitecaps, who made the playoffs thanks to the Cosmos' loss, in their semifinal series. Vancouver's Bob Lenarduzzi scored the quickest goal in NASL playoff history 46 seconds into the match, but Chicago rallied for the win.
There were still plans for a 1985 season as the year ended, but the departures of Chicago, New York, Minnesota and the San Diego Sockers to the MISL made that difficult. Once the Cosmos left both the NASL and MISL on February 22, the game was up. A month later, on March 28, 1985, the NASL suspended operations. Plans to come back for 1986 went by the wayside.
Read more about 1984 North American Soccer League Season: Final Standings, Playoffs, All-NASL Teams, League Awards, Team Attendance Totals
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