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The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's founding in 1968 through 1974, the championship game (or series, as it was played through 1971) was known as the NASL Championship Final, and in 1984 the single game was replaced by a best-of-three series known as the Soccer Bowl Series.
Then-NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam wanted to build excitement for the championship game. He envisioned a week-long, neutral-site championship event in the mold of the NFL's Super Bowl. On August 24, 1975, the first Soccer Bowl was played at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California, as the Tampa Bay Rowdies defeated the Portland Timbers. Unlike the Super Bowl, the NASL's annual numbering scheme did not use Roman numerals (e.g., Super Bowl IX), but instead used the last two digits of the year played (e.g., Soccer Bowl '78).
hosted Soccer Bowl '78 with a record 74,091 in attendance.]]Under Woosnam's guidance, the Soccer Bowl became a major sporting event. The biggest attendance was for Soccer Bowl '78, when 74,091 filled Giants Stadium in the New York metropolitan area, still the highest attendance to date for any club soccer championship in the United States.
The last Soccer Bowl returned to a best-of-three series format and occurred in early October 1984. The league ceased operation in 1985.
The 1968 and 1970 NASL Finals were contested with a two-game series, one in each of the two teams' stadiums, and the winner decided by aggregate goals.
The NASL contracted from 17 teams to 5 for the 1969 season, so no final was held. Instead, as in many leagues in Europe, the championship was awarded to the team with the most points at season's end.
The 1971 NASL Final was played in a best-of-three series, with games one and three hosted by the higher-seeded team.
After 1971, the NASL Championship Final switched to a single game. The 1972 through 1974 were hosted by the highest-seeded team. In 1975, Woosnam's dream of a neutral-site event became reality, and the Soccer Bowl was born. That format continued through the 1983 final.
For the league's final season in 1984, the finals reverted to a best-of-three series, although it retained the "Soccer Bowl" moniker, used alternately with "Soccer Bowl Series".
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