Montreal Impact

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Montreal Impact

Full name

Impact de Montréal FC,
Montreal Impact FC

Nickname(s)

Impact

Founded

1993

Ground

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard,
Montreal, QC, Canada

Capacity

9,500

Chairman

Joey Saputo

Manager

Nick DeSantis

League

USL First Division

2006

1st





Home colours





Away colours

The Montreal Impact (French: Impact de Montréal) is a soccer team in the North American USL First Division. Founded in 1993 by the Saputo family following the demise of the 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 United Soccer Leagues Division 1 (2004). It did not compete during the 1999 outdoor season. Its main rivals are the Rochester Raging Rhinos and the Toronto Lynx. It plays its home games at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, which has a capacity recently increased to 9,500 to reflect increasing ticket demand. The team is building a new soccer-specific stadium, Saputo Stadium, which should be completed by July 2007.

1 Club history
2 Historical Stats
3 Club data
4 All-Time Leaders
- 4.1 Most appearances for Montreal Impact
- 4.2 Most goals scored for Montreal Impact
5 Coaches:
6 Titles:
7 Outdoor year-by-year
8 Indoor year-by-year
9 Supporters
10 Average attendance
11 Current squad
12 Notable former players
13 External links

[edit] Club history

Following a lackluster first year, the Impact surprised the defending champion Colorado Foxes (1-0) on October 15, 1994 to claim its 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 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 was 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 its 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) to capture its second championship, 10 years after its 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 high is the 13,648 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 organisation 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. The July 15, 2006 the team won the 200th victory in its history.

The Impact also played indoors 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.

[edit] Historical Stats

Seasons : 13 (1993-1998, 2000-2006)

First Official Match : 14 May 1993 (against the Los Angeles Salsa)

First Match : 22 April 1993 (Against Ponte Boggianese)

First Home Game : 21 May 1993 (against the Tampa Bay Rowdies)

Best Finish : Champion (1994, 2004)

Titles : 2 (1994, 2004)

Voyagers Cup : 5 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)

Attendance record : 13,648 spectators (18 September 2004, against the Seattle Sounders)

Most Goals Scored : 58 (in 28 matches in 1997)

Least Goals Allowed : 15 (in 28 matches in 2004, 2005 and 2006)

Largest Victory (h) : 6-0 (against Worcester in 1997)

Largest Victory (a) : 0-6 (against Toronto in 1998, played in Ottawa)

Worst Defeat (h) : 1-4 (against Cincinnati in 2002), 0-3 (against Seattle in 2000)

Worst Defeat (a) : 6-0 (against Rochester in 1998)

[edit] Club data

Current stars:

Mauro Biello (Captain), Gabriel Gervais, Nevio Pizzolito, Zé Roberto, Patrick Leduc

[edit] All-Time Leaders

[edit] Most appearances for Montreal Impact

#	Name	Career	Appearances	Goals
1	Mauro Biello	1993-1998, 2000- present	264	65
2	Nick DeSantis	1993 - 2003	219	21
3	Lloyd Barker	1993 - 1997, 2001 - 2004	190	34
4	Patrick Diotte	1993 - 1998, 2000 - 2001	186	0
5	Nevio Pizzolito	1995-1998, 2000- present	185	8
6	John Limniatis	1990 - 2002	150	2
7	Patrick Leduc	2000 - present	127	6
8	Giuliano Oliviero	1997 - 2002	115	18
9	Gabriel Gervais	2002 - present	101	6
10	Darko Kolic	1997-1998, 2000- present	100	17

[edit] Most goals scored for Montreal Impact

#	Name	Career	Appearances	Goals
1	Mauro Biello	1993-1998, 2000- present	264	65
2	Eduardo Sebrango	2002 - 2005	83	36
3	Lloyd Barker	1993 - 1997, 2001 - 2004	190	34
4	Nick DeSantis	1993-1998, 2000-2003	219	21
5	Grant Needham	1993 - 1998	87	19
6	Giuliano Oliviero	1997 - 2002	115	18
7	Darko Kolic	1997-1998, 2000- present	100	17
8	Zé Roberto	2001 - present	100	15
9	Ali Gerba	2000, 2003, 2005	32	12
10	Onandi Lowe	1996 - 1998	29	12

[edit] Coaches:

Eddie Firmani: 1993
Valerio Gazzola: 1994–1997
Paul Kitson: 1998
Zoran Jankovic: 2000
Valerio Gazzola: 2000–2001
Nick DeSantis: 2001
Bob Lilley: 2002–2003
Nick DeSantis: 2004–Present

[edit] Titles:

League Champion: 1994 (APSL), 2004 (A-League).
Regular Season Champion: 1995, 1996, 1997 (A-League), 2005, 2006 (USLD1).
Voyageurs Cup: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Can Am Cup: 1998, 2003, 2004.
Montreal Cup: 2001

[edit] Outdoor year-by-year

Year	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Voyageurs Cup
1993	APSL	7th	Did not qualify	N/A
1994	APSL	3rd	Champion	N/A
1995	A-League	1st	Semifinals	N/A
1996	A-League	1st	Semifinals	N/A
1997	USISL A-League	1st, Northeast	Division Finals	N/A
1998	USISL A-League	2nd, Northeast	Conference Semifinals	N/A
1999	Did not participate
2000	USL A-League	4th, Northeast	Did not qualify	N/A
2001	USL A-League	4th, Northern	Did not qualify	N/A
2002	USL A-League	2nd, Northeast	Conference Semifinals	Champion
2003	USL A-League	1st, Northeast	Division Finals	Champion
2004	USL A-League	1st, Eastern	Champion	Champion
2005	USL First Division	1st	Semifinals	Champion
2006	USL First Division	1st	Semifinals	Champion
2007	USL First Division	N/A	N/A	N/A

[edit] Indoor year-by-year

Year	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Voyageurs Cup
1997/98	NPSL	3rd, North	Division Finals	N/A
1998/99	NPSL	3rd, Central	Conference Semifinals	N/A
1999/00	NPSL	2nd, Central	Conference Semifinals	N/A

[edit] Supporters

The Montreal Impact have one of the most vocal groups of supporters in the USL First Division, the UM02, which stands for Ultras Montréal. The group was created in 2002, after the re-opening of the Montréal Impact, when a group of fans decided to bring organized and vocal support to Impact games. Their slogan is "Toujours Fidèles" which is French for Always Faithful. The UM02 is the subject of much animosity by the rival Rochester Stampede.

[edit] Average attendance

1994: 3,215
1995: 5,075
1996: 4,868^
1997: 5,066
1998: 4,008
2000: 2,338
2001: 2,103
2002: 5,178
2003: 7,236
2004: 9,279
2005: 11,176^
2006: 11,554^

^led league

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
2	DF	Hicham Aaboubou
5	DF	Nevio Pizzolito
6	DF	Mauricio Vincello
7	MF	Jason DiTullio
8	DF	Gabriel Gervais
9	MF	Lars Lyssand
10	MF	Zé Roberto
11	FW	Frederico Moojen
12	FW	Bill Sedgwick
14	FW	Joel John Bailey
15	MF	Patrick Leduc
17	MF	Mesut Mert
18	MF	Leonardo Di Lorenzo
19	DF	David Fronimadis

No.	Position	Player
20	MF	Mauro Biello (Captain)
21	DF	Kirk Wilson
22	GK	Andrew Weber
23	MF	Antonio Ribeiro
24	MF	Simon Gatti
25	FW	Darko Kolic
26	GK	Gerry Argento
27	FW	Massimo Di Ioia
30	MF	Ibrahim Baldeh
	FW	Fabian Dawkins
	MF	Jason McLaughlin
	MF	Martin Fabro
	GK	Matt Jordan

[edit] Notable former players

Canada

Lyndon Hooper
Pat Harrington
John Limniatis
Grant Needham
Greg Sutton

Brazil

Paulinho

Cuba

Eduardo Sebrango

Jamaica

USA

Jean Harbor

[edit] External links

Montreal Impact - Current Squad
2 Aaboubou \| 5 Pizzolito \| 6 Vincello \| 7 DiTullio \| 8 Gervais \| 9 Lyssand \| 10 Zé Roberto \| 12 Sedgwick \| 14 Bailey \| 15 Leduc \| 16 Fukasawa \| 17 Mert \| 18 Di Lorenzo \| 19 Fronimadis \| 20 Biello \| 21 Wilson \| 22 Weber \| 23 Ribeiro \| 24 Gatti \| 25 Kolic \| 26 Argento \| 27 Di Ioia \| 30 Baldeh \| new Dawkins \| new McLaughlin \| Manager: DeSantis