Montreal Impact

Montreal Impact F.C.

Full name	Impact de Montréal FC Montreal Impact FC
Nickname(s)	Impact
Founded	1993
Ground	Stade Saputo (Capacity: 13,034)
Chairman	Joey Saputo
Manager	John Limniatis
League	USL First Division
2008	3rd place lost in USL Semifinals
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Montreal Impact Football Club (French: Impact de Montréal) is a Canadian professional football team, founded in 1993. The team is a member of the USL First Division, the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.

They currently play at the Stade Saputo in Montreal, Quebec. The team is currently coached by John Limniatis. The team's colors are blue and white.

2008 Roster

as of August 25, 2008

No. Position Player 1 GK Matt Jordan 2 DF Davy Uwimana 3 DF Tony Donatelli 5 DF Nevio Pizzolito 6 DF Alex Surprenant 7 MF David Testo 8 DF Gabriel Gervais 9 FW Rocco Placentino 10 FW Roberto Brown 11 FW Severino Jefferson 12 MF Sandro Grande 13 FW Gayson Gregory 14 FW Sita-Taty Matondo

No. Position Player 15 MF Patrick Leduc 16 MF Stefano Pesoli 17 MF Joey Gjertsen 18 MF Leonardo Di Lorenzo 19 MF Pato Aguilera 20 MF Mauro Biello 21 MF Felix Brillant 22 GK Andrew Weber 23 MF Antonio Ribeiro 24 DF Simon Gatti 26 DF Cédric Joqueviel 28 FW Peter Byers 33 MF Adam Braz

Staff

President

• Joey Saputo

Executive Vice President

• Richard Legendre

Vice President

• John Di Terlizzi

Technical Director

• Nick De Santis

Team Manager

• Gabriel Quieti

Director Ticket Office

• Mariette Denis

Sports

Head Coach

• John Limniatis

Assistant Coach

• Andrea Di Pietrantonio

Team Chef

• Marc Dos Santos

Goalkeeper Coach

• Youssef Dahha

Medical Team

Equipment Coordinator

• Michael Guerrera

Physiotherapist

• Guillaume Hamel

Athletic Therapist

• Tanya Dei Tigli

Team Physician

• Dr. Scott Delaney

Medical Coordinator

• Alain Scheldeman

Massage Therapist

• Lucy Smith

Club Information

The Impact 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.

The Impact play their home games at Saputo Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium opened in May 2008. As the name suggests, the stadium was funded privately (mainly by the Saputo family). Seating 13,500 supporters in three main stands, Saputo Stadium (FR: Stade Saputo) 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.

The Montreal Impact also operated 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.

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 second Canadian franchise of the league after Toronto FC. Although Toronto FC currently holds a three-year Canadian exclusivity deal, they have stated that they would gladly welcome the Impact into MLS. ^[1] Chairman Joey Saputo held talks with George Gillett (owner of Montreal Canadiens and co-owner of Liverpool F.C.) regarding possible joint ownership of a MLS franchise.^[2] 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. ^[3]

On November 22, 2008, the team rescinded its bid for an MLS franchise. ^[4]

Reserve team

The Montreal Impact have set up a reserve team to play in the Canadian Soccer League. The Trois-Rivières Attak started to play in the 2007 season.

Competition history

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 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 13,648 fans in 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 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 rights to represent Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League. The tournament features the best teams in all of North and Central America and the Carribean 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 Hondurus 2-1 and 1-1. They finished off against Atlante FC of Mexico which they tied 0-0 and then lost 2-1. The team will now compete in the quaterfinals of the tournament.

Historical Stats

Seasons: 15 (1993-1998, 2000-2008)

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)

Titles: 2 (1994, 2004)

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

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)

CONCACAF Champions League: First Canadian participant in 2008

All-Time Leaders

Most appearances # Name Career Appear. Goals 1 Mauro Biello 1993-1998, 2000- present 320 69 2 Nick De Santis 1993 - 2003 219 21 3 Nevio Pizzolito 1995-1998, 2000-present 207 34 4 Patrick Leduc 2000 - present 191 10 5 Lloyd Barker 1993 - 1998, 2000 - 2001 190 34 6 Patrick Diotte 1993-1998, 2000 - 2001 186 0 7 John Limniatis 1990 - 2002 150 2 8 Gabriel Gervais 2002 - present 148 7 9 Zé Roberto 2001 - 2007 138 17 10 Greg Sutton 2001 - 2006 132 0

Most goals scored # Name Career Appear. Goals 1 Mauro Biello 1993-1998, 2000- present 320 69 2 Eduardo Sebrango 2002 - 2005 83 36 3 Lloyd Barker 1993 - 1997, 2001 - 2004 190 34 4 Nick De Santis 1993-1998, 2000-2003 219 21 5 Grant Needham 1993 - 1998 87 19 6 Guiliano Oliviero‎ 1997 - 2002 115 18 7 Darko Kolic 1997-1998, 2000- 2006 105 17 8 Zé Roberto 2001 - 2007 138 17 9 Ali Gerba 2000, 2003, 2005 32 12 10 Onandi Lowe 1996 - 1998 29 12

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: 2004–2008
• John Limniatis: 2008–Present

Honours

• USL First Division Championship
  • Winners (2): 1994, 2004
• Canadian Championship
  • Winners (1): 2008
• 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

Outdoor year-by-year

Indoor year-by-year

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, the designated supporters section.

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

Average attendance

^led league

Notable former players

See also Cat:Montreal Impact players.

References

External links

• Montreal Impact official site
• Impact Soccer fan site
• Ultras Montréal supporters' site

United Soccer Leagues First Division
Austin Aztex | Carolina RailHawks | Charleston Battery | Cleveland City Stars | Miami FC | Minnesota Thunder | Montreal Impact | Portland Timbers | Puerto Rico Islanders | Rochester Rhinos | Vancouver Whitecaps 2010: Tampa Bay Rowdies | Inactive: Atlanta Silverbacks
Soccer in Canada
National Association National Team: M, W U20 List of coaches List of clubs Hall of Fame SSS List of venues Pyramid
Canadian Soccer Competitions
Canadian Championship MLS USL First Division CSL Open Cup PDL Super-20 PCSL CMISL Challenge Cup W-League C-NA ST Y-League

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