# 1996 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 |
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.
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) | Semifinals (best-of-3) | Semifinals (best-of-3) | Semifinals (best-of-3) | Semifinals (best-of-3) | 1996 A-League Final | 1996 A-League Final | 1996 A-League Final |
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 2 | 3 | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 3 | 0 | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Rochester Rhinos | 0 |
| | | | | | 3 | Seattle Sounders | 2 |
| 2 | Colorado Foxes | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Seattle Sounders | 2 |
| 3 | Seattle Sounders | 1 | 0 | 3 | | | |

### Final
## 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 |
| 9 | Walter Boyd | Colorado Foxes | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Anthony McCreath | Colorado Foxes | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Hector Marinaro | Rochester Rhinos | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 13 | Chance Fry | Seattle Sounders | 6 | 2 | 14 |
| 13 | Jorge Acosta | New York Fever | 5 | 4 | 14 |

## Honors

* MVP: Wolde Harris
* Leading goal scorer: Doug Miller
* Leading goalkeeper: Paolo Ceccarelli
* Rookie of the Year: Wolde Harris
* Coach of the Year: Lorne Donaldson
* Defender of the Year: John Limniatis
* Official of the Year: Kevin Skinner
* First Team All League
** Goalkeeper: Paolo Ceccarelli
** Defenders: John Limniatis, Wade Webber, Carlos Llamosa, Rene Rivas
** Midfielders: Nick DeSantis, Martin Nash, Anthony McCreath
** Forwards: Wolde Harris, Domenic Mobilio, Doug Miller