1980 North American Soccer League season
Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1980. This was the 13th season of the NASL.
Overview
The league comprised 24 teams. The New York Cosmos defeated the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the finals on September 21 to win the championship. For the third time in league history the team with the most wins did not win the regular season due to the NASL's system of awarding bonus points for goals scored.Changes from the previous season
The 1980 season saw the regular season expand from 30 games to 32 games. Three North Americans were required to be among the eleven playing in the match for each team, up from two during the previous season.New teams
- None
Teams folding
- None
Teams moving
- None
Name changes
- None
Regular season
6 points for a win,
0 points for a loss,
1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.
American Conference
Central Division | W | L | GF | GA | PT |
Chicago Sting | 21 | 11 | 80 | 50 | 187 |
Houston Hurricane | 14 | 18 | 56 | 69 | 130 |
Detroit Express | 14 | 18 | 51 | 52 | 129 |
Memphis Rogues | 14 | 18 | 49 | 57 | 126 |
Western Division | W | L | GF | GA | PT |
Edmonton Drillers | 17 | 15 | 58 | 51 | 149 |
California Surf | 15 | 17 | 61 | 67 | 144 |
San Diego Sockers | 16 | 16 | 53 | 51 | 140 |
San Jose Earthquakes | 9 | 23 | 45 | 68 | 95 |
National Conference
Central Division | W | L | GF | GA | PT |
Dallas Tornado | 18 | 14 | 57 | 58 | 157 |
Minnesota Kicks | 16 | 16 | 66 | 56 | 147 |
Tulsa Roughnecks | 15 | 17 | 56 | 62 | 139 |
Atlanta Chiefs | 7 | 25 | 34 | 84 | 74 |
Western Division | W | L | GF | GA | PT |
Seattle Sounders | 25 | 7 | 74 | 31 | 207 |
Los Angeles Aztecs | 20 | 12 | 61 | 52 | 174 |
Vancouver Whitecaps | 16 | 16 | 52 | 47 | 139 |
Portland Timbers | 15 | 17 | 50 | 53 | 133 |
NASL All-Stars
First Team | Position | Second Team | Honorable Mention |
Phil Parkes, Chicago | G | Jack Brand, Seattle | Jan van Beveren, Fort Lauderdale |
Carlos Alberto, New York | D | Mihalj Keri, Los Angeles | David Nish, Seattle |
Mike Connell, Tampa Bay | D | Wim Rijsbergen, New York | John Gorman, Tampa Bay |
Rudi Krol, Vancouver | D | Peter Nogly, Edmonton | Frantz Mathieu, Chicago |
Bruce Rioch, Seattle | D | John Ryan, Seattle | Andranik Eskandarian, New York |
Franz Beckenbauer, New York | M | Arno Steffenhagen, Chicago | Ray Hudson, Ft. Lauderdale |
Vladislav Bogićević, New York | M | Johan Neeskens, New York | Ace Ntsoelengoe, Minnesota |
Teófilo Cubillas, Fort Lauderdale | M | Alan Hudson, Seattle | Jomo Sono, Toronto |
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York | F | Steve Wegerle, Tampa Bay | Tommy Hutchison, Seattle |
Johan Cruyff, Washington | F | Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago | Alan Green, Washington |
Roger Davies, Seattle | F | Luis Fernando, Los Angeles | Julio César Romero, New York |
Playoffs
The top two teams from each division qualified for the playoffs automatically. The last two spots would go to the next best teams in the conference, regardless of division. The top three seeds went to the division winners, seeds 4-6 went to the second place teams and the last two seeds were given wild-card berths. The winners of each successive round would be reseeded within the conference by regular season point total, regardless of first-round seeding. The Soccer Bowl remained a single game final.In 1979 and 1980, if a playoff series was tied at one win apiece, a full 30 minute mini-game was played. If there was no winner after the 30 minutes ended, the teams would then move on to a shoot-out to determine a series winner.
Bracket
First round
Conference Semifinals
Conference Championships
Soccer Bowl '80
1980 NASL Champions: New York CosmosPost season awards
- Most Valuable Player: Roger Davies, Seattle
- Coach of the year: Alan Hinton, Seattle
- Rookie of the year: Jeff Durgan, New York
- North American Player of the Year: Jack Brand, Seattle