1972 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1972. This was the 5th season of the NASL.

Overview

Eight teams took part in the league with the New York Cosmos winning the championship.

NASL changed its offside rule during the season on June 26. They created a "Blue Line" which was an offside line across the field, 35 yards from the goal line. Thereafter, no player could be offside unless he had crossed the 35-yard line. This made the NASL unique in the soccer world; however, the league did not receive approval from FIFA.

Changes from previous season

Washington moved to Miami and were renamed Gatos.

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts= point system

6 points for a win 3 points for a tie 0 points for a loss 1 point for each goal scored up to three per game.

Northern Division

	W	L	T	GF	GA	PT
New York Cosmos	7	3	4	28	16	77
Rochester Lancers	6	5	3	20	22	64
Montreal Olympique	4	5	5	19	20	57
Toronto Metros	4	6	4	18	22	53

Southern Division

	W	L	T	GF	GA	PT
St. Louis Stars	7	4	3	20	14	69
Dallas Tornado	6	5	3	15	12	60
Atlanta Chiefs	5	6	3	19	18	56
Miami Gatos	3	8	3	17	32	44

Playoffs

Semi-finals

August 15	Rochester Lancers	0 – 2	St. Louis Stars	St. Louis, Busch Memorial

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August 19	Dallas Tornado	0 – 1	New York Cosmos	New York, Yankee Stadium

Final

August 26	St. Louis Stars	1 – 2	New York Cosmos	New York, Yankee Stadium

Post season awards

• Most Valuable Player: Randy Horton, New York
• Coach of the year: Casey Frankiewicz, St. Louis
• Rookie of the year: Mike Winter, St. Louis

References