Major League soccer presents a particular challenge for The CM 89/90 patch – the league was not founded until 1996, and with the NASL having folded in 1984, soccer in the US (and Canada) in 1989 consisted of various indoor and outdoor leagues, plus the college football system.
MLS can’t be restructured in Championship Manager, and nor can its clubs’ names be changed, so I’d been assigning North American-based players of the time to MLS clubs of the same geographical area as where they played.
For the latest patch (April 2017), however, I’ve attempted to create a more cohesive MLS – each team is made up of a few nearby (where possible) clubs from the era, which means all clubs have a balanced squad of 22-30 players. The lower divisions have been worked on too – many clubs now have much smaller squads, but teams that continued to exist, such as Seattle Sounders or Vancouver Whitecaps, have accurate squads for the time. Some players have been moved large distances in order to balance out the squads.
The table below summarises the make-up of the 1989 “virtual MLS” teams, while the attached document gives an exhaustive list (including lower league sides):
| MLS team | 1989 teams | Colours | Coach | Notable players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Fire | Chicago Power St. Louis Storm |
Red | Don Popovic | Fernando Clavijo Karlheinz Granitza |
| Colorado Rapids | Tacoma Stars Memphis Storm |
Claret | Alan Hinton | Neil Megson Preki |
| Columbus Crew | Cleveland Crunch Cleveland Force Dayton Dynamo |
Yellow and black | Kai Haaskivi | Patricio Margetic David Weir |
| Dallas Burn | Dalals Sidekicks Houstin Dynamo |
Red | Billy Phillips | Steve Kinsey Roy Lassiter |
| DC United | Baltimore Blast Washington Stars |
Black | Kenny Cooper | Jeff Agoos Bruce Murray |
| Kansas City Wizards | Kancas City Comets Wichita Wngs |
Sky blue | Terry Nicholl | Jan Goossens Kevin Kewley |
| LA Galaxy | LA Heat San Diego Nomads UCLA |
White and Navy | Sigi Schmid | Marcelo Balboa Eric Wynalda |
| Metrostars | Albany Capitals New Jersey Eagles |
Black and Red | Bob Bradley | John Harkes Paul Mariner |
| Miami Fusion | Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Miami Heat |
Yellow and Red (as per the FL Strikers) | Wim Suurbier | Teofilo Cubillas Tab Ramos |
| New England Revolution | Boston Bolts Edmonton Brickmen |
Navy and Red | Ross Ongaro | Justin Fashanu Tony Meola |
| San Jose Earthquakes | California Kickers San Francisco Bay Blackhawks |
Blue and Black | Dieter Hochheimer | Dominic Kinnear Cle Kooiman |
| Tampa Bay Mutiny | Orlando Lions Tampa Bay Rowdies |
Green and yellow (as per the Rowdies) | Ken Fogarty | Christopher Sullivan Peter Ward |
