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A-League
Season	1996
Champions	Seattle Sounders ; (2nd title)
Premiers	Montreal Impact ; (2nd title)
Top goalscorer	Doug Miller ; (18 goals)
	← 1995 1997 USISL A-League →

The 1996 A-League season was the seventh and final season of the A-League. In 1997, the league merged to form the USISL A-League.

Regular season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	SW	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Montreal Impact	27	17	4	6	40	18	+22	55
2	Colorado Foxes	27	14	2	11	55	33	+22	44
3	Seattle Sounders	27	12	4	11	35	25	+10	40
4	Rochester Rhinos	27	11	3	13	44	42	+2	36
5	Vancouver 86ers	27	10	3	14	38	38	0	33
6	New York Fever	27	6	3	18	30	40	−10	21
7	Atlanta Ruckus	22	3	0	19	14	60	−46	9

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 3 points for a win, 1 points for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss.

A significant number of postponed matches over the 1996 season by the Atlanta Ruckus, who underwent a change in ownership, ultimately forced the A-League to shorten the other teams' schedules by one match, reducing the total games played from 28 to 27. Atlanta's league position, in last place and already eliminated from the playoff contention, was not affected by the decision announced September 4, 1996. The Ruckus played a total of 22 games.^[1]

Each team had their head-to-head schedule with Atlanta shortened by one, maintaining a balanced head-to-head competition against each other. The 1996 regular season ended on September 14 with the top four regular season teams advancing to the playoffs.

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals Best-of-3					1996 A-League Final Single Match

1	Montreal Impact	2	3	1

4	Rochester Rhinos	3	0	2
					4	Rochester Rhinos	0	-	-

					3	Seattle Sounders	2	-	-
2	Colorado Foxes	0	2	0

3	Seattle Sounders	1	0	3

Semifinal 1

September 19, 1996

Montreal Impact (QC)	2–3	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Nick DeSantis 34:45' Jason DeVos 50:31' Lloyd Barker 56'	Report	Lenin Steenkamp 4' Doug Miller 5' Gustavo Villagra 71:33'

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada

Attendance: 3,691

September 21, 1996

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	0–3	Montreal Impact (QC)
	Report	Onandi Lowe 53:06' Eddy Berdusco 56:00' Mauro Biello 89:00'

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 14,809

September 25, 1996

Montreal Impact (QC)	1–2	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Mauro Biello 14:56'	Report	Rene Rivas 25:53' (pen.), 55'

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada

Attendance: 3,317

Semifinal 2

September 19, 1996
7:00 PM MST

Colorado Foxes (CO)	0–1	Seattle Sounders (WA)
	Report	Niall Thompson 69'

Mile High Greyhound Park Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 2,134

September 22, 1996

Seattle Sounders (WA)	0–2	Colorado Foxes (CO)
Niall Thompson 49' Wade Webber 73'	Report	Henrik Fig 31', 76' Chris Sarver 32' Jerome Watson 51'

Memorial Stadium Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 3,102

September 25, 1996
7:00 PM MST

Colorado Foxes (CO)	0–3	Seattle Sounders (WA)
		Jason Farrell 27' Niall Thompson 63', 70'

Mile High Greyhound Park Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 1,927

Final

October 6, 1996
4:00 PM PST

Seattle Sounders (WA)	2–0	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Niall Thompson 10' Joey Leonetti 71:20', 83:30' Niall Thompson 87'	Report 1 Report 2	Tommy Tanner 27' Yogi McKay 53' Rene Rivas 87'

Memorial Stadium Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 7,027

Referee: Esse Baharmast

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Wolde Harris	Colorado Foxes	17	8	42
2	Doug Miller	Rochester Rhinos	18	2	38
3	Domenic Mobilio	Vancouver 86ers	14	4	32
4	Lenin Steenkamp	Atlanta Ruckus	9	5	23
5	Carsten Siersbaek	Colorado Foxes	7	8	22
6	Eddy Berdusco	Montreal Impact	8	3	19
6	Lloyd Barker	Montreal Impact	6	7	19
8	Jason Farrell	Seattle Sounders	6	5	17
9	Mauro Biello	Montreal Impact	6	3	15
	Walter Boyd	Colorado Foxes	5	5	15
	Anthony McCreath	Colorado Foxes	5	5	15
	Hector Marinaro	Rochester Rhinos	4	7	15
13	Chance Fry	Seattle Sounders	6	2	14
13	Jorge Acosta	New York Fever	5	4	14