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Montreal Impact
Full name	Montreal Impact Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Impact
Founded	1992
Ground	Saputo Stadium; Montreal, Quebec; (Capacity: 13,034)
Owner	Joey Saputo
Head Coach	Marc Dos Santos
League	North American Soccer League
2009	Regular Season: 5th; Playoffs: Champions
Home colours	Away colours

Montreal Impact (French: Impact de Montréal) is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009; it is scheduled to join the new North American Soccer League in 2010.

The team plays its home games at Saputo Stadium, where they have played since 2008. The team's colors are blue and white. Their current head coach is Marc Dos Santos.

The Impact also operate a reserve team, Trois-Rivières Attak, which began play in the Canadian Soccer League in 2007. They also used to operate 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.

[edit] History

The Impact club was founded in 1993 by the Saputo family, following the demise of Montreal Supra and its league (the Canadian Soccer League). They 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 Rhinos and the Toronto Lynx prior to the latter's move to the USL Premier Development League.

Following a lacklustre 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 from 2003 to 2008. In 2009 the Impact were crowned at home for their third title, beating the Vancouver Whitecaps by an aggregate score of 6-3 in a Cinderella ending to what had been a tumultuous season.

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 Montreal, saw an all-time record 13,648 fans at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard Stadium (whose seating capacity for the day was adjusted from 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 55,571 fans in attendance for the 2009 CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final against Santos Laguna (Mexico) at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

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.

For the first time in its history, the Montreal Impact contracted players to 10 months out of the year in 2008. This extended training camp was a first for the Montreal Impact and many in the media have stated that it is a move to next level in professional soccer. They began the year at the soccer training centre, "Catalognia Soccerplex" before traveling to Italy for more training and three exhibition games against Italian clubs. They drew their first match 0-0 against third division Arezzo, lost their second match 1-0 against second division Frosinone and finally won their third encounter 1-0 against fourth division Cassino.

In 2008, the Montreal Impact won the Canadian Championship, gaining the chance to represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League. The tournament features the best teams in all of North and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. The Impact won two legs against Real Estali 1-0 and 0-0 to secure a spot in the tournament. Montreal competed then in the group stage where they defeated Joe Public FC of Trinidad 2-0 and 4-1 and CD Olimpia of Honduras 2-1 and 1-1. They finished off against Atlante FC of Mexico which they tied 0-0 and then lost 2-1.

On February 25, 2009, the team won the first leg of the quarterfinals match 2-0 against Santos Laguna from Mexico. The match was played at Montreal's Olympic Stadium in front of a club-record crowd of 55,571.^[1] The second leg was held on March 5, 2009 at Corona Stadium, in Torreon, Mexico, where the Impact led 2-1 at the half (4-1 on aggregate). With the Impact only a few minutes from a semi-final berth, Santos Laguna's Carlos Quintero scored twice in stoppage time to rally the homeside to a 5-2 victory, thus eliminating the Impact from the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League 5-4 on aggregate.^[2] Following the match, head coach John Limniatis commented that his side "should have done better", noting that it was "unfortunate to finish this way".^[3]

For the 2009 Canadian Soccer Championship, the Montreal Impact were eliminated early to the disappointment of fans. In the final match of the Voyageurs Cup, with the Impact already eliminated, Head Coach Marc Dos Santos decision to field a number of reserve team players drew controversy from fans of both the Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps. The team went on to suffer its worst defeat in history, by losing 6-1 to archrival Toronto FC of Major League Soccer ^[4]. Toronto FC needed to win by 4 goals to advance to the CONCACAF Champions League 2009-10 preliminary round. As a result, the Vancouver Whitecaps were eliminated on goal differential, despite holding the same record as Toronto FC.

The Montreal Impact has clinched the third championship of its history, Saturday October 17, 2009, in front of a sellout crowd of 13,034 at Saputo Stadium, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1, (6-3 on aggregate goals), in the First Division USL final championship.

In November 2009 the Impact announced their intent to leave the USL First Division to become the co-founders of a new North American Soccer League, which would begin play in 2010. The league, which has yet to be sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation or the Canadian Soccer Association, would also comprise the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Vancouver Whitecaps and a brand new team led by St. Louis Soccer United.^[5]

[edit] Rivalries

A card display mosaic tifo organised by the UM02 at Montreal's Claude-Robillard Centre.

Montreal Impact have a rivalry with fellow USL First Division side Rochester Rhinos. In matches between the two franchises, it is not uncommon for supporters of the two teams to travel to the opposing sides' stadium.

The Impact also has a rivalry with MLS side Toronto FC. Toronto FC and Montreal Impact both participate in the Canadian Championship annually along with Vancouver. On June 18, 2009, the Impact suffered its worst defeat, losing 6-1 at the hands of archrival Toronto FC ^[4]. The lopsided loss by the Impact eliminated the Vancouver Whitecaps from the 2009 Canadian Championship, thus causing widespread resentment among Whitecaps fans towards the Impact. As a result, a rivalry has simmered between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Impact.

[edit] The Impact and Major League Soccer

Towards the end of 2007, much speculation had been made about a possible franchise move from USL First Division to Major League Soccer. The construction of the expandable Stade Saputo further suggests an interest on the part of the Impact to move up to the top level American-Canadian league. If allowed entry into MLS, the Impact would be the third Canadian franchise of the league after Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Although Toronto FC currently holds a three-year Canadian exclusivity deal, they have stated that they would gladly welcome the Impact into MLS.^[6] Chairman Joey Saputo held talks with George Gillett (former owner of Montreal Canadiens and co-owner of Liverpool F.C.) regarding possible joint ownership of a MLS franchise.^[7] Such a bid would involve paying the MLS expansion fee (USD $40M as of 2008), and would probably also require increasing the new stadium capacity to the 18-20,000 seat range (estimated to cost C$10–15M). On July 24, 2008, MLS announced they were seeking to add two expansion teams for the 2011 season, of which Montreal was listed as a potential candidate.^[8]

On November 22, 2008, the team rescinded its bid for an MLS franchise,^[9] although in response to Vancouver's successful bid in March 2009, Impact GM Nick De Santis commented that he expected chairman Joey Saputo to pursue and ultimately realize his vision of Montreal as an MLS franchise someday.^[10]

On May 16, 2009, the Montreal Gazette reported that MLS commissioner Don Garber and Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo have resumed talks for an expansion team to begin play in 2011, with a franchise possibly granted by the end of May if all goes well.^[11]

[edit] Players

[edit] Current roster

as of November 20, 2009^[12]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Matt Jordan
2	DF	Hicham Aâboubou
3	DF	Adam Braz
5	DF	Nevio Pizzolitto
6	DF	Alex Surprenant
7	MF	David Testo
9	MF	Rocco Placentino
10	FW	Roberto Brown
12	FW	Eduardo Sebrango
14	MF	Tony Donatelli

No.	Position	Player
15	MF	Patrick Leduc
16	DF	Stefano Pesoli
17	FW	Joey Gjertsen
18	MF	Leonardo Di Lorenzo
22	GK	Srdjan Djekanović
23	MF	Stephen deRoux
24	DF	Simon Gatti
26	DF	Cédric Joqueviel
28	FW	Peter Byers
30	MF	Pierre-Rudolph Mayard

[edit] Notable former players

See also: All-time Montreal Impact roster

[edit] Staff

Joey Saputo President
Richard Legendre Executive Vice President
John Di Terlizzi Vice President
Nick De Santis Technical Director
Marc Dos Santos Head Coach
Gil Orriols Jansana Assistant Coach
Youssef Dahha Goalkeeper Coach
Gabriel Quieti Team Manager
Véronique Fortin Director of Game-Day Operations & Promotions
Dr. Scott Delaney Team Physician

[edit] Awards Year by Year

Year	MVP	Defensive Player of the Year	Unsung Hero	Newcomer of the Year
1993	Patrice Ferri	--	--	--
1994	Jean Harbor	--	--	--
1995	Lloyd Barker	--	--	--
1996	Paolo Ceccarelli	--	--	--
1997	Mauro Biello	--	--	--
1998	Mauro Biello	--	--	--
1999	N/A	--	--	--
2000	Jim Larkin	--	--	--
2001	Mauro Biello	--	--	--
2002	Eduardo Sebrango	Gabriel Gervais	Jason DiTullio	Zé Roberto
2003	Greg Sutton	Gabriel Gervais	David Fronimadis	Martin Nash
2004	Gabriel Gervais	Greg Sutton	Zé Roberto	Sandro Grande
2005	Mauro Biello	Nevio Pizzolitto	Mauricio Vincello	Masahiro Fukasawa
2006	Mauricio Vincello	Gabriel Gervais	Andrew Weber	Leonardo Di Lorenzo
2007	Leonardo Di Lorenzo	Mauricio Vincello	Simon Gatti	Matt Jordan
2008	Matt Jordan	Nevio Pizzolitto	Joey Gjertsen	Stefano Pesoli
2009	David Testo	Nevio Pizzolitto	Adam Braz	Stephen deRoux

[edit] Year-by-Year

[edit] Outdoor Team

Year	Division	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Voyageurs Cup	CONCACAF Champions League	Avg. Attendance
1993	1	APSL	7th	Did not qualify	N/A	N/A
1994	1	APSL	3rd	Champion	N/A	N/A	3,216
1995	2	A-League	1st	Semifinals	N/A	N/A	5,075
1996	2	A-League	1st	Semifinals	N/A	N/A	4,868
1997	2	USISL A-League	1st, Northeast	Division Finals	N/A	N/A	5,066
1998	2	USISL A-League	2nd, Northeast	Conference Semifinals	N/A	N/A	4,008
1999	Did not participate
2000	2	USL A-League	4th, Northeast	Did not qualify	N/A	N/A	2,338
2001	2	USL A-League	4th, Northern	Did not qualify	N/A	N/A	2,103
2002	2	USL A-League	2nd, Northeast	Conference Semifinals	Champion	N/A	5,178
2003	2	USL A-League	1st, Northeast	Division Finals	Champion	N/A	7,236
2004	2	USL A-League	1st, Eastern	Champion	Champion	N/A	9,279
2005	2	USL First Division	1st	Semifinals	Champion	N/A	11,176
2006	2	USL First Division	1st	Semifinals	Champion	N/A	11,554
2007	2	USL First Division	3rd	Quarterfinals	Champion	N/A	11,035
2008	2	USL First Division	3rd	Semifinals	Champion	Quarterfinals	12,696
2009	2	USL First Division	5th	Champion	3rd	Did not qualify	12,033

[edit] Indoor Team

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] Honours

USL First Division
- Winners (2): 2004, 2009
- Northeast Division Champions (2): 1997, 2003
- Eastern Division Champions (2): 2004

APSL
- Winners (1): 1994

Commissioner's Cup
- Winners (5): 1995, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006
- Runners-up (2): 2003, 2004

Voyageurs Cup
- Winners (7): 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Can Am Cup
- Winners (3): 1998, 2003, 2004

Montreal Cup
- Winners (1): 2001

[edit] Historical Stats

Seasons: 16 (1993-1998, 2000-2009)

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

First Match: 22 April 1993 (against Ponte Boggianese, Italy)

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

Best Finish: Champion (1994, 2004, 2009)

Titles: 3 (1994, 2004, 2009)

Voyageurs Cup: 7 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Attendance record: 55 571 spectators (25 February 2009, against the Santos Laguna CONCACAF)

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 Lynx in 1998, played in Ottawa)

Worst Defeat (h): 1-6 (against Toronto FC in 2009)

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

CONCACAF Champions League: First Canadian participant in 2008, reached quarterfinals

[edit] All-Time Leaders

Most appearances
#	Name	Career	Appear.	Goals
1	Mauro Biello	1993–98, 2000–2009	344	72
2	Nevio Pizzolito	1995–98, 2000–	252	9
3	Nick De Santis	1993–2003	219	21
4	Patrick Leduc	2000–	203	10
5	Lloyd Barker	1993–98, 2000–01	190	34
6	Patrick Diotte	1993–98, 2000–01	186	0
7	John Limniatis	1990–2002	150	2
8	Gabriel Gervais	2002–08	148	7
9	Zé Roberto	2001–07	138	17
10	Greg Sutton	2001–06	132	0

Most goals scored
#	Name	Career	Appear.	Goals
1	Mauro Biello	1993–98, 2000–2009	344	72
2	Eduardo Sebrango	2002–05, 2009–	111	40
3	Lloyd Barker	1993–97, 2001–04	190	34
4	Nick De Santis	1993–98, 2000–03	219	21
5	Grant Needham	1993–98	87	19
6	Guiliano Oliviero‎	1997–2002	115	18
7	Darko Kolić	1997–98, 2000–06	105	17
8	Zé Roberto	2001–07	138	17
9	Ali Gerba	2000, 2003, 2005	32	12
10	Onandi Lowe	1996–98	29	12

[edit] Head coaches

The Impact's current head coach is Marc Dos Santos who, at 31 years old, is one of the youngest head coaches of any North American professional sports team.

Eddie Firmani (1993)
Valerio Gazzola (1994–1997)
Paul Kitson (1998)
Tasso Koutsoukos (1998-2000)
Zoran Jankovic (2000)
Valerio Gazzola (2000–2001)
Nick DeSantis (2001, 2004–2008)
Bob Lilley (2002–2003)
John Limniatis (2008–2009)
Marc Dos Santos (2009-present)

[edit] Stadia

The Impact currently plays its home games at Saputo Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium which opened in May 2008. As the name suggests, the stadium was funded privately (mainly by the Saputo family). Seating 13,034 supporters in three main stands, Saputo Stadium is located just east of Olympic Stadium in the city's east end. Prior to moving to the new stadium, the Impact played their home games at Complexe Sportif Claude-Robillard.

Complexe Sportif Claude-Robillard; Montreal, Quebec (2003-2007)
Stadium at Université Laval; Quebec City, Quebec 3 games (2003-2005)
Stadium at Université de Sherbrooke; Sherbrooke, Quebec 2 games (2004-2005)
Stade Saputo; Montreal, Quebec (2008-present)

[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. The UM02 are located in the bottom half of section 114 of the Saputo Stadium, the designated supporters section.

[edit] References

^ Farrell, Sean (2009-02-25). "Big Montreal crowd takes in winter soccer". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=Am1qmutmJ1KMvef.wg56wzgmw7YF?slug=ap-santos-impact&prov=ap&type=lgns. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
^ "Impact bounced from CONCACAF Champions League". CBC Sports. 2009-03-06. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2009/03/05/sp-impact-santos.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ "IMPACT 2 SANTOS LAGUNA 5". Impact Montreal News. 2009-03-05. http://www.impactmontreal.com/News/News.aspx?language=EN&ArticleID=1082&Focus=0. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
^ ^a ^b "TFC rout Shocks Impact, Whitecaps". Sportsnet. 2009-06-18. http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2009/06/18/tfc_beat_impact/. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
^ USL outcasts set to launch new league in 2010
^ CANOE - SLAM! Sports - Soccer - Montreal to bid for MLS franchise
^ "Gillett launches MLS bid". Sky Sports. 2008-03-27. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3353672,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
^ Major League Soccer: News: Article
^ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2008/11/21/mls-montreal-expansion.html
^ http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Soccer+Montreal+will+land+team+Impact+says/1406744/story.html
^ Phillips, Randy (May 16, 2009). "New coach, same old problem". Montreal Gazette. http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sports/coach+same+problem/1603145/story.html.
^ http://www.montrealimpact.com/Team/Roster.aspx?language=EN

[edit] External links

[0] Farrell, Sean (2009-02-25). "Big Montreal crowd takes in winter soccer". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=Am1qmutmJ1KMvef.wg56wzgmw7YF?slug=ap-santos-impact&prov=ap&type=lgns. Retrieved 2009-02-25.

[1] "Impact bounced from CONCACAF Champions League". CBC Sports. 2009-03-06. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2009/03/05/sp-impact-santos.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[2] "IMPACT 2 SANTOS LAGUNA 5". Impact Montreal News. 2009-03-05. http://www.impactmontreal.com/News/News.aspx?language=EN&ArticleID=1082&Focus=0. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

[TFC_rout_Shocks_Impact.2C_Whitecaps-3] "TFC rout Shocks Impact, Whitecaps". Sportsnet. 2009-06-18. http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2009/06/18/tfc_beat_impact/. Retrieved 2009-08-10.

[4] USL outcasts set to launch new league in 2010

[5] CANOE - SLAM! Sports - Soccer - Montreal to bid for MLS franchise

[6] "Gillett launches MLS bid". Sky Sports. 2008-03-27. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3353672,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-27.

[7] Major League Soccer: News: Article

[8] ttp://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2008/11/21/mls-montreal-expansion.html

[9] ttp://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Soccer+Montreal+will+land+team+Impact+says/1406744/story.html

[10] Phillips, Randy (May 16, 2009). "New coach, same old problem". Montreal Gazette. http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sports/coach+same+problem/1603145/story.html.

[11] ttp://www.montrealimpact.com/Team/Roster.aspx?language=EN

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