Mississauga MetroStars

Mississauga MetroStars

Founded	2018
Dissolved	2019
Stadium	Paramount Fine Foods Centre
Owner	Gladiator Sports Media Entertainment Corp[1]
League	Major Arena Soccer League
2018–19	4th, Eastern Division Playoffs: DNQ
Website	http://www.metrostars.ca/

Mississauga MetroStars (briefly known as MetroStars Canada in 2019) were a professional indoor soccer team which played its home games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The team joined the Major Arena Soccer League for the 2018–19 season.^[1][2] The club featured former Toronto FC players Dwayne De Rosario, Molham Babouli and Adrian Cann on the roster in its first season.^[2] Just as the 2019–20 season began, it was announced the team would cease operations.^[3]

History

Background

Historically the Canadian professional indoor soccer landscape consisted of Canadian franchises in American leagues particularly in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL).^[4][5][6] The height of Canadian participation in indoor soccer occurred during the 1980–81 and 1981–82 NASL seasons when four Canadian clubs participated simultaneously. The height of Canadian participation in the NPSL would eventually expand to include four teams, which consisted of the Edmonton Drillers, Montreal Impact, Toronto Shooting Stars, and Toronto ThunderHawks.^[7][8] After the demise of the NPSL in 2001 the country was without a professional league structure, until the creation of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League (CMISL) in 2007.^[9] The league served as the first exclusively Canadian professional indoor soccer league, and was primarily based in Western Canada until it ceased operations in 2012.^[10]

In 2017, the Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA) was founded as the governing body for the sport in Canada.^[11][12] The CASA sanctioned the developmental Youth Arena Premier League and the semi-professional Arena Premier League – both based in Mississauga.^[13][14] The purpose of the Arena Premier League was to develop and provide talent to the Canadian national indoor team, and later to the MetroStars.^[15]

Formation and dissolution

The MetroStars were founded in 2018 and were one of 17 participants in the 2018–19 Major Arena Soccer League season. They made their debut on December 1 against the defending league champion Baltimore Blast. According to team owner Gladiator Sports, the MetroStars payroll for the year was about $500,000.^[16] The team finished the 2018–19 season 15th in the league with a record of 4 wins, 20 losses, and ranked 14th in attendance with an average of 1,020 per game.^[17]

For the 2019–20 season, the team rebranded as MetroStars Canada. They planned to play their 12 home games in six cities across Ontario (St. Catharines, Kingston, Oshawa, Windsor, Sarnia, and Brampton)^[18] to spread awareness for the sport. Before playing a single game that season, the Major Arena Soccer League published a revised schedule that did not include the MetroStars.^[3] Six days later, the team confirmed that they would not be participating in the season due to issues coordinating their home matches.^[17]

2018–19 roster

Final roster

• As of 24 August 2019^[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 FW  CAN Jarred Phillips 3 DF  CRO Josip Keran 4 FW  CAN Adrian Cann 5 MF  JAM Halburto Harris 6 MF  CAN Matthew Rios 8 DF  CAN Joshua Paredes 10 MF  CAN Marco Rodriguez 11 DF  CAN Mark Jankovic 12 FW  CAN Massimo Mirabelli 13 FW  CAN Damion Graham 14 FW  CAN Dwayne De Rosario (Captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  SYR Molham Babouli 23 FW  GUY Shaquille Agard 32 DF  JAM Darren Chambers 44 MF  CAN Raheem Rose 87 MF  CAN Shawn Brown 88 MF  CAN Luis Rocha 89 GK  CAN Adrian Becic 91 MF  CAN David Velastegui 96 MF  COL Sebastian López 99 FW  CAN Jonathan Osorio 99 GK  CAN Sebastian Zeballos

Inactive players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CAN Justin Barrett 7 MF  IRN Sina Khandan 11 MF  CAN Anthony Osorio 15 DF  SRB Alen Kucalovic 17 MF  CAN Mario Orestano

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF  UKR Vasyl Zhuk 21 DF  CAN Jesse Assing 22 GK  CAN Spyros Stergiotis 92 MF  CAN Martinho Dumevski

Head coaches

Coach	Tenure	Record
		G	W	L	Win %
Phil Ionadi	September 14, 2018[1] – February 28, 2019	16	3	13	18.75%
Rick Titus	February 28, 2019[20] – 2019	8	1	7	12.5%
John Williams	2019[21]	0	0	0	0%

Records

Year-by-year

Season	League	Teams	Record	Rank	Playoffs	Average attendance	Ref
2018–19	Major Arena Soccer League (Eastern Division)	17	4–20	4th	did not qualify	1,020	[17]

References

1. "Mississauga Metrostars Join MASL as First Canadian Franchise". Major Arena Soccer League. September 14, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
2. "Mississauga MetroStars launched ahead of arena soccer season". The Mississauga News. 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
3. "MASL announces revised 2019-2020 schedule". Major Arena Soccer League. 2019-11-23. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
4. Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). "PASL wants united North American indoor soccer scene". the11.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
5. "A History of USA Indoor Soccer". homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
6. Jose, Colin (2001). On-Side - 125 Years of Soccer in Ontario. Vaughan, Ontario: Ontario Soccer Association and Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. p. 244.
7. "LogoServer - Soccer Logos - NPSL". www.logoserver.com. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
8. Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). "MISL has interest in Canadian expansion". the11.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
9. Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). ""Glitches" in proposed plan to bring CMISL to Vancouver". the11.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
10. SANDOR, Steven (2016-04-22). "CMISL to take one-year hiatus: Plans to return for 2013-14". the11.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
11. Colpitts, Iain (2017-06-21). "Canadian Arena Soccer Association makes Mississauga home". Mississauga.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
12. Jab TV (2017-06-27), Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA) Press Conference, retrieved 2018-03-29
13. scttmos (2018-01-26), Inside The APL Episode #1 January 26, 2018, retrieved 2018-03-29
14. "CASA Soccer » APL". www.casasoccer.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
15. Colpitts, Iain (2017-06-27). "City of Mississauga goes all in on arena soccer". Mississauga.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
16. Davidson, Neil (30 November 2018). "Mississauga MetroStars to kick off debut MASL season in Baltimore". National Post. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
17. Davidson, Neil (29 November 2019). "Indoor soccer takes another hit in Toronto as MetroStars pull out of MASL". The Chronicle-Journal. Canadian Press. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
18. "Metrostars Canada Launches 6-City Tour in Niagara & Hosts Marvel Super Hero Weekends!". www.metrostars.ca. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
19. "Stats - Major Arena Soccer League".
20. Canadian Press (March 1, 2019). "Mississauga MetroStars fire head coach/GM after lengthy losing run". CHAT News Today. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
21. "Kingston is one of 6 cities to host games in the Major Arena Soccer League". Global News. November 18, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2020. said MetroStars head coach John Williams.

External links

• Official website