1982 North American Soccer League season explained

Season:	1982
Num Teams:	14
Winners:	New York Cosmos (5th title)
Premiers:	New York Cosmos (6th title)
Matches:	224
League Topscorer:	Ricardo Alonso (21 goals)
Total Goals:	809
Highest Attendance:	52,436 Tampa Bay at New York (April 18)
Lowest Attendance:	2,120 San Jose at Edmonton (August 4)
Average Attendance:	13,155
Nextseason:	1983

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1982. This was the 15th season of the NASL.

Overview

The league comprised 14 teams. The New York Cosmos won the championship. The NASL no longer used the 35-yard line for offside, but retained its presence for use in tie-breaker shootouts.^[1]

Changes from the previous season

New teams

None

Teams folding

Atlanta Chiefs
Calgary Boomers
California Surf
Dallas Tornado
Los Angeles Aztecs
Minnesota Kicks
Washington Diplomats

Atlanta, Calgary, California, Dallas and Washington folded in September 1981,^[2] while Los Angeles and Minnesota were dissolved in November–December 1981.

Teams moving

None

Name changes

None

Map of clubs

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system

6 points for a win in regulation and overtime, 4 point for a penalty shootout win,0 points for a loss,1 bonus point for each regulation goal scored, up to three per game.^[3]

Premiers (most points). Other playoff teams.

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
align=left	New York Cosmos	23	9	73	52	203
align=left	Montreal Manic	19	13	60	43	159
align=left	Toronto Blizzard	17	15	64	47	151
align=left	Chicago Sting	13	19	56	67	129

Southern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
align=left	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	18	14	64	74	163
align=left	Tulsa Roughnecks	16	16	69	57	151
align=left	Tampa Bay Rowdies	12	20	47	77	112
align=left	Jacksonville Tea Men	11	21	41	71	105

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
align=left	Seattle Sounders	18	14	72	48	166
align=left	San Diego Sockers	19	13	71	54	162
align=left	Vancouver Whitecaps	20	12	58	48	160
align=left	Portland Timbers	14	18	49	44	122
align=left	San Jose Earthquakes	13	19	47	62	114
align=left	Edmonton Drillers	11	21	38	65	93

NASL All-Stars

First Team	Position	Second Team^[4]	Honorable Mention^[5]
Hubert Birkenmeier, New York	align=center	G	Jan van Beveren, Fort Lauderdale	Jan Möller, Toronto
Frantz Mathieu, Chicago	align=center	D	Barry Wallace, Tulsa	Bruce Wilson, Toronto
Cho Young-Jeung, Portland	align=center	D	Jeff Durgan, New York	Mike Connell, Tampa Bay
Peter Nogly, Tampa Bay	align=center	D	Carlos Alberto, New York	John Wile, Vancouver
Andranik Eskandarian, New York	align=center	D	Ray Evans, Seattle	Bob Lenarduzzi, Vancouver
Vladislav Bogićević, New York	align=center	M	Steve Daley, Seattle	Vince Hilaire, San Jose
Ace Ntsoelengoe, Toronto	align=center	M	Johan Neeskens, New York	Ray Hudson, Fort Lauderdale
Arno Steffenhagen, Chicago	align=center	M	Teófilo Cubillas, Ft. Lauderdale	Juli Veee, San Diego
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York	align=center	F	Steve Hunt, New York	Branko Šegota, Fort Lauderdale
Peter Ward, Seattle	align=center	F	Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago	David Byrne, Toronto
Ricardo Alonso, Jacksonville	align=center	F	Pato Margetic, Chicago	Laurie Abrahams, Tulsa • Godfrey Ingram, San Jose • Carl Valentine, Vancouver

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

width=180	Higher seed	width=180	Lower seed	width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=80	Game 3	Attendance
New York Cosmos	Tulsa Roughnecks	5–0	0–1	1–0	August 25 • Giants Stadium • 23,917 August 28 • Skelly Stadium • 15,817 September 1 • Giants Stadium • 24,209
Seattle Sounders	Toronto Blizzard	4–2	1–2 (OT)	4–2	August 25 • Kingdome • 13,005 August 27 • Exhibition Stadium • 5,099 September 1 • Kingdome • 17,332
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Montreal Manic	2–3 (OT)	1–0 (OT)	4–1	August 25 • Olympic Stadium • 15,232 August 29 • Lockhart Stadium • 10,696 September 1 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,897
San Diego Sockers	Vancouver Whitecaps	5–1	0–1	2–1	August 25 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 7,267 August 29 • Empire Stadium • 18,253 September 2 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 8,857

† Higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3

* Montreal Manic hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2) due to stadium conflicts with the Expos baseball club.

Semifinals

width=180	Higher seed	width=180	Lower seed	width=80	Game 1	width=80	Game 2	width=80	Game 3	Attendance
New York Cosmos	San Diego Sockers	2–1	2–1 (OT)	×	September 5 • Giants Stadium • 34,653 September 8 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 13,074
Seattle Sounders	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2–0	3–4 (OT)	1–0 (OT)	September 4 • Kingdome • 17,338 September 8 • Lockhart Stadium • 15,196 September 10 • Kingdome • 28,986

† Higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3

Soccer Bowl '82

See main article: Soccer Bowl '82.

1982 NASL Champions: New York Cosmos

Post season awards

Most Valuable Player: Peter Ward, Seattle
Coach of the year: Johnny Giles, Vancouver
Rookie of the year: Pedro DeBrito, Tampa Bay
North American Player of the Year: Mark Peterson, Seattle^[6]
Soccer Bowl MVP: Giorgio Chinaglia, New York

External links

Notes and References

Web site: The Year in American Soccer - 1982 . 2013-02-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151128063727/http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1982.html . 2015-11-28 . dead .
News: Four NASL teams fold. Associated Press. New York. September 17, 1981. Gainesville Sun.
Web site: Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search. news.google.com.
Web site: Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page. www.oocities.org.
Web site: Archived copy . home.att.net . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080501104955/http://home.att.net/~nasl/nasl.htm . 1 May 2008 . dead.
Web site: Also worth mentioning.... St. Petersburg Times. August 9, 1983.