Impact de Montréal FC - last updated on 31 March 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Impact de Montréal Football Club
Foundation: 1993
City: Montréal, QC
Colours: White and blue
Website: www.impactmontreal.com
Honours:
A-League - 1 (2004)
Coupe Voyageurs - 6 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Coupe Can AM - 3 (1998, 2003, 2004)
A bit of history:
The Montreal Impact (French: Impact de Montréal) are a Canadian soccer team in the North American USL First Division.
Founded in 1993 by the Saputo family, following the demise of Montreal Supra and its league (the Canadian Soccer League), the Impact became a dominant club in the American Professional Soccer League (1993–1996) and the A-League (1997–2003), renamed the USL First Division (2004). The team did not compete during the 1999 A-League season. Their main rivals are the Rochester Raging Rhinos and (prior to their move to the Premier Development League), the Toronto Lynx.
The Impact play their home games at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, whose capacity has been recently increased to 9,500 to reflect the ever increasing demand for tickets. The team is building a new soccer-specific stadium, Saputo Stadium, which will be completed for April 2008.
The Impact also operated an indoor team (of the same name) in the NPSL (at the Bell Centre, then at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard) with many of the same players from 1997–1998 to 1999–2000.
Following a lackluster first year, the Impact surprised the defending champion Colorado Foxes (1-0) on October 15, 1994 to claim their first league title. Subsequently, the team finished first or tied for first during the regular season in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003 without making it back to the final. The Impact lost to archrivals Rochester in their first four playoff encounters, in 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2003, before finally defeating them in 2004 on route to their second title. The club was favoured to repeat in 2005, but after a near-flawless season (3 losses in 28 games) the Impact were ousted in the semi-finals by the eventual champions, the Seattle Sounders (2-2, 1-2). The team also won the inaugural Voyageurs Cup in 2002 and successfully defended this title in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
In 2004, the Impact finished first in the A-League's Eastern Conference before disposing of Rochester (1-0, 1-0), Syracuse (2-0, 1-1) and Seattle (2-0) in the playoffs to capture their second championship, 10 years after their first. The final, held in Montréal, saw an all-time record 13,648 fans cram into Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard Stadium (whose seating capacity for the day was adjusted 10,100). The MVP was Mauricio Vincello who scored the winner at the 33rd minute of play. Fredrick Commodore sealed the game with a goal at the 78th minute.
At the gate, the Impact had always been solid within the league before 1999 with average crowds of 4,000-5,000. After disappointing seasons in 2000 and 2001 (where the average gate was between 2,000 and 3,000 people), the team had new record attendances in 2002 (over 5,000 on average), 2003 (over 7,000 on average), 2004 (over 9,000 on average) and 2005-2006 (over 11,000 on average). The all-time single game high is the 13,648 fans in attendance for the 2004 final.
In 1999, the owners had a conflict with the league and withdrew the team from competition, but did play indoor soccer that year in the National Professional Soccer League. After resurfacing in 2000, the club went bankrupt during the 2001 season when the then-owners were Ionian. Administered until the end of the season by one of the original pillars, Joey Saputo, the club rose from its ashes in 2002, set up as a non-profit organization owned by the Quebec government, Hydro-Québec and Saputo. It also attracted many big-time sponsors such as the National Bank of Canada, Bell Canada and Coca-Cola, among others. The team's mandate is to develop local talent and to serve as a representative of Montreal for tourism. Since the Impact's renaissance in 2002, Quebec-born players have played a much more central role in the Canadian national team, after many years of non-selection. For the 2005 Gold Cup, players Gabriel Gervais, Sandro Grande Patrick Leduc, Adam Braz and Ali Gerba, as well as former player Patrice Bernier and Quebec-born Olivier Occean were all called to the national team and did well by most accounts. The visibility helped Grande and Ali, who both transferred to Scandinavia shortly after the tournament. On July 15, 2006 the team won the 200th victory in its history.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Impact de Montréal FC -
Founded in 1993
