# 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer

The 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer was an indoor soccer tournament staged by four franchises of the North American Soccer League.

## Overview

The NASL franchises from Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, Montreal, and Tulsa opted to play the Grand Prix in early 1983 as a makeshift indoor season, because for various reasons, the eight other NASL clubs had chosen to forego playing a full 1982–83 NASL indoor season. Three of those eight teams (Chicago, Golden Bay and San Diego) had joined the Major Indoor Soccer League for 1982-83 season, while the remaining five squads chose to sit out winter indoor play completely.
The tournament consisted of three weeks of double round-robin play for the purpose of seeding, followed by a Championship weekend at the Forum in Montreal. Fort Lauderdale did not host a round because there was no suitable venue in the area that also met the minimum seating requirements. Instead, Tulsa hosted Rounds 1 and 3. The tournament would mark the third time NASL teams played in such an event, with the first two coming in 1975 and 1976. Additionally the teams participated in a season-long Shootout Challenge competition, the champions of which would split a $5,000 purse.
Montreal and Tampa Bay finished tied on both points and record after the preliminary rounds, but Montreal held the head-to-head tie-breaker, and with it the top seed. Tampa Bay won the championship final 5–4 on a golden goal by Mark Karpun at 1:58 of the second, seven and a half minute, overtime period. This victory marked the Rowdies' third indoor trophy and fourth title overall in the NASL. Laurie Abrahams of Tulsa led all scorers (12 goals, 6 assists) and was named the offensive MVP, while Montreal goalie Mehdi Cerbah who posted a 4.36 goals-against-average was the defensive MVP of the tournament. Tampa Bay also won the $5,000 Shootout Challenge purse by defeating Ft. Lauderdale, 2–0, with Rowdies goalie Jürgen Stars stopping all three Strikers shots in the final round.

## Preliminary rounds
### Round 1

played at Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma
| January 21 | Montreal Manic | 6–3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | Attendance: 3,522 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 8–4 | Tulsa Roughnecks |
| January 22 | Montreal Manic | 8–6 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | Attendance: 4,341 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7–2 | Tulsa Roughnecks |

### Round 2

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida
| February 4 | Montreal Manic | 6–3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | Attendance: 4,450 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7–6 | Tulsa Roughnecks |
| February 5 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 7–4 | Montreal Manic | Attendance: 5,545 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 10–6 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers |

### Round 3

played at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma
| February 11 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7–5 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | Attendance: 2,064 |
| Tulsa Roughnecks | 8–7 | Montreal Manic |
| February 12 | Montreal Manic | 5–4 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | Attendance: 3,245 |
| Tulsa Roughnecks | 5–4 (OT) | Fort Lauderdale Strikers |

### Seeding

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, PTS= point system
6 points awarded for a win. Beginning with the fourth goal, 1 bonus point awarded for each goal scored. Maximum of 5 bonus points per game.
| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1* | Montreal Manic | 6 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 31 | +5 | 42 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 6 | 4 | 2 | 38 | 31 | +7 | 42 |
| 3 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 6 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 37 | –4 | 33 |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 6 | 1 | 5 | 32 | 40 | –8 | 20 |
*Montreal wins top seed based on 2–0 head-to-head edge over Tampa Bay

## Grand Prix Championship rounds
### Bracket

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Championship Final | Championship Final | Championship Final |
| 1 | Montreal Manic | 11 | | | |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 4 | | | |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 4 | 1 | Montreal Manic | 4 |
| | | | 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5(2OT) |
| 3 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 6 | 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5(2OT) |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 8 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | 3 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 9 |
| | | | 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 4 |

### Semi-finals

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec
| February 18 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 8–6 | Tulsa Roughnecks | Attendance: 6,049 |
| Montreal Manic | 11–4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers |

### Third-place match

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec (1:30 PM EST)
| February 20 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 9–4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers |

### Championship final

1983 Indoor Grand Prix Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

## Tournament awards

* Most Valuable Players: - Offensive: Laurie Abrahams (Tulsa) - Goals: 12 Assists: 6 Total Pts: 30 - Defensive: Mehdi Cerbah (Montreal) Goals-against-average: 4.36
* $5,000 Shootout Challenge: - Semi-finals: Tampa Bay 3 – 1 Tulsa • Fort Lauderdale 3 – 1 Montreal - Finals: Tampa Bay 2 – 0 Fort Lauderdale

## Final rankings

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential
| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 8 | 6 | 2 | 51 | 41 | +10 |
| 2 | Montreal Manic | 8 | 5 | 3 | 51 | 40 | +11 |
| 3 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 8 | 4 | 4 | 48 | 49 | -1 |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 8 | 1 | 7 | 40 | 60 | -20 |

### Statistics

| Leading Scorers | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Laurie Abrahams (Tulsa) | 12 | 6 | 30 |
| Dale Mitchell (Montreal) | 12 | 4 | 28 |
| Branko Šegota (Fort Lauderdale) | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| Dragan Vujović (Montreal) | 9 | 7 | 25 |
| Teófilo Cubillas (Fort Lauderdale) | 8 | 9 | 25 |
| Hugo Pérez (Tampa Bay) | 10 | 4 | 24 |
| Tatu (Tampa Bay) | 9 | 5 | 23 |
| Keith Weller (Tulsa) | 8 | 7 | 23 |
| Wes McLeod (Tampa Bay) | 5 | 12 | 22 |
| Njego Pesa (Tulsa) | 9 | 4 | 22 |
| Alan Willey (Montreal) | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| Steve Wegerle (Fort Lauderdale) | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| Leading Goalkeepers | Minutes | GA | GAA |
| Mehdi Cerbah (Montreal) | 330 | 24 | 4.36 |
| Jürgen Stars (Tampa Bay) | 377 | 32 | 5.09 |
| Craig Scarpelli (Fort Lauderdale) | 330 | 33 | 5.99 |
| Winston DuBose (Tulsa) | 486 | 49 | 6.05 |

## Non-grand prix matches

In addition to the Grand Prix tournament, the four teams took part in other indoor matches as tune-ups for both the outdoor season and the Grand Prix itself.