The North American Soccer League, operating as a stand-alone league in 2011 after being merged with USL First Division into the USSF Division 2 Pro League, released their inaugural season schedule and playoff format Tuesday.
The league's eight teams -- Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, FC Edmonton, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Montreal Impact, NSC Minnesota Stars, FC Tampa Bay and Puerto Rico Islanders -- will each play a 28-game regular season, facing the other seven teams four times, twice at home and away.
The regular season opens April 9 with four games (FC Edmonton @ Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Rico @ Carolina, Minnesota @ Atlanta and Montreal @ FC Tampa Bay) and end September 24 with three games (Fort Lauderdale @ FC Tampa Bay, Montreal @ Atlanta and Minnesota @ Carolina) and all eight teams will be in a single standings table for 2011.
In the postseason, the top six teams will qualify for the playoffs with the top two teams gaining byes into the semifinal round.
The remaining four teams (6th seed @ 3rd seed, 5th seed @ 4th seed) will play each other in single games to advance to the semifinals with the lowest remaining seed facing the top seed and the highest facing the second seed.
The two-game, aggregate-goal NASL Championship Series will take place the weekends of October 22 and 29 with the higher seeded team hosting the second game.
To see the entire 2011 NASL schedule, go to http://nasl.com.
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