San Diego Sockers (1978–1996)


The San Diego Sockers were a soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League until 1984 as well as the original Major Indoor Soccer League and CISL. The franchise folded in 1996 and was the last surviving NASL franchise.
The Sockers are considered the most successful indoor soccer team to play the sport. They made the playoffs in all but one of their 16 seasons of play as an indoor soccer team.

History

The team began as the Baltimore Comets in 1974 but moved to San Diego as the San Diego Jaws in 1976. After a one-year stay in Las Vegas as the Las Vegas Quicksilvers, the team returned as the San Diego Sockers in 1978. They were owned by Bob Bell and played their indoor games at the San Diego Sports Arena.
Initially, victories came slowly for the club but mounted quickly and they experienced moderate success over their outdoor history winning several division titles. However, the San Diego Sockers won the North American Soccer League Indoor Championships of 1981–82 and 1983–84.
Success was far from over for the San Diego Sockers. When the NASL folded, the San Diego Sockers moved to the Major Indoor Soccer League and won eight championships: 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. The Sockers carried their success from one league to the next. They switched to the Continental Indoor Soccer League for three more years from 1993 to 1995. However, after several ownership changes, Sockers folded after the 1996 season.
There have been two subsequent revivals of the Sockers. The first was a franchise in the WISL that later joined the second MISL before folding in 2004. A second started play in the PASL-PRO in 2009.

Leagues

Outdoor

Indoor

Honors

Championships
Regular Season/ Division Titles
Conference Titles
NASL Coach of the Year
NASL North American Player of the Year
NASL All Stars
NASL indoor MVP
NASL indoor Scoring Champion
NASL indoor Goalkeeper of the Year
NASL indoor Championship Finals MVP
NASL indoor All Stars
Hall of Fame members
MISL MVP
  • 1983 Alan Mayer
  • 1985 Steve Zungul
  • 1986 Steve Zungul
  • 1991 Victor Nogueira
  • 1992 Victor Nogueira
MISL Championship MVP
  • 1983 Juli Veee
  • 1985 Steve Zungul
  • 1986 Brian Quinn
  • 1988 Hugo Pérez
  • 1989 Victor Nogueira
  • 1990 Brian Quinn
  • 1991 Ben Collins
  • 1992 Thompson Usiyan
MISL Scoring Champion
  • 1985 Steve Zungul
  • 1986 Steve Zungul
MISL Pass Master
  • 1985 Steve Zungul
  • 1986 Steve Zungul
MISL Defender of the Year
  • 1985 Kevin Crow
  • 1988 Kevin Crow
  • 1989 Kevin Crow
  • 1991 Kevin Crow
  • 1992 Kevin Crow
MISL Goalkeeper of the Year
  • 1988 Zoltán Tóth
  • 1989 Victor Nogueira
  • 1991 Victor Nogueira
  • 1992 Victor Nogueira
MISL Coach of the Year
  • 1988 Ron Newman
MISL Rookie of the Year
MISL First Team All Star
  • 1983 Alan Mayer, Kazimierz Deyna
  • 1985 Branko Šegota, Kevin Crow, Steve Zungul
  • 1986 Fernando Clavijo, Branko Segota
  • 1987 Kevin Crow
  • 1988 Zoltán Tóth, Fernando Clavijo, Kevin Crow, Branko Segota
  • 1990 Victor Nogueira, Kevin Crow
  • 1991 Victor Nogueira, Kevin Crow
CISL Goalkeeper of the Year
  • 1994 Antonio Cortes
CISL Rookie of the Year
CISL First Team All Star'''