Professional Cup
# Professional Cup

The Professional Cup was an international soccer tournament that took place in 1992 and involved eight, professional clubs from three different leagues in North America; the American Professional Soccer League, the Canadian Soccer League, and the National Professional Soccer League. Although it was billed as "inaugural" this would be the only year that the tournament was played.

## Overview

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played as a standard two-legged, aggregate format in every round, but after all three of the non-APSL teams were eliminated in the first round it was decided that the remaining rounds would be single match ties. The winning team was to receive approximately $26,800 and the runners-up, about $13,200.

Nine matches, including the Final, were played in the United States, and two matches were played in Canada. The participating teams were APSL sides: Colorado Foxes, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Miami Freedom, San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, and Tampa Bay Rowdies; CSL sides: Montreal Supra and Vancouver 86ers, as well as the NPSL's Chicago Power. Although up to that point Chicago had been known only as an indoor team, in the summer of 1992 they formed an outdoor squad as well.

Colorado won the Professional Cup Final, 4–1, over Tampa Bay. The Foxes, who had already won the 1992 APSL regular season, would also go on to win the APSL title seven days later, thus completing a minor treble.

## Match results

### Bracket

| First round | First round | First round | First round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| APSL | Colorado Foxes | 3 | 2 | | | | | | |
| CSL | Vancouver 86ers | 2 | 1 | | | | | | |
| CSL | Vancouver 86ers | 2 | 1 | APSL | Colorado Foxes | 1 | | | |
| | | | | APSL | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 0 | | | |
| APSL | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 2 | 3 | APSL | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 0 | | | |
| NPSL | Chicago Power | 0 | 2 | | | | | | |
| NPSL | Chicago Power | 0 | 2 | | | | APSL | Colorado Foxes | 4 |
| | | | | | | | APSL | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 |
| APSL | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 | 2 | | | | | | | APSL | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 |
| CSL | Montreal Supra | 1 | 0 | | | | | | |
| CSL | Montreal Supra | 1 | 0 | APSL | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 | | | |
| | | | | APSL | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 0 | | | |
| APSL | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 2 | 3 | APSL | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 0 | | | |
| APSL | Miami Freedom | 1 | 1 | | | | | | |

### First round

| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Dates • Location • Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7–1 | Montreal Supra | 5–1 | 2–0 | August 1 • Tampa Stadium • 600 August 12 • Stade Claude-Robillard • 924 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 5–2 | Miami Freedom | 2–1 | 3–1 | August 8 • Colts Stadium • 1,152 August 12 • Orange Bowl • 85 |
| San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 5–2 | Chicago Power | 2–0 | 3–2 | July 22 • Buck Shaw Stadium • 2,050 August 19 • Norris Stadium • (???) |
| Colorado Foxes | 5–3 | Vancouver 86ers | 3–2 | 2–1 | August 3 • Englewood Stadium • 368 August 11 • Swangard Stadium • 3,083 |

### Professional Cup Final

1992 Professional Cup Champions: Colorado Foxes

| Match Stats | Colorado | Tampa Bay |
| - | - | - |
| Goals scored | 4 | 1 |
| Total shots | 17 | 6 |
| Shots on target | 8 | 2 |
| Saves | 1 | 4 |
