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| Full name | Portland Timbers |
|---|---|
| Nickname | The Timbers |
| Founded | 1985 (as F.C. Portland) |
| Dissolved | 1990 |
| Stadium | Civic Stadium Portland, Oregon |
| League | Western Soccer Alliance /American Professional Soccer League |
Portland Timbers, previously known asF.C. Portland, came into existence in 1985 as an independent U.S. soccer team based inPortland, Oregon. In 1989, the team adopted the namePortland Timbers. Portland was composed of both professional and amateur players. The amateur players largely came from local Portland amateur leagues. It played its games in Portland's Civic Stadium.
In 1985, F.C. Portland joined with three other independent clubs, the U.S. basedF.C. Seattle andSan Jose Earthquakes and the CanadianVictoria Riptides in a home and away round robin tournament, known as theWestern Alliance Challenge Series. The four teams also played the CanadianEdmonton Brick Men and theCanada national team. The games against the Brick Men counted in the standings which determined the end of series champions.
F.C. Portland had the honor of hosting the first game of the series, against Seattle. The game, played in Portland's Civic Stadium, attracted 2,906 fans.
F.C. Portland also played a game against theHouston Dynamos inHouston.
After the success of 1985, the three U.S. teams elected to form a league, which they named the Western Soccer Alliance. While the Victoria Riptides opted out of the league, theEdmonton Brick Men joined the alliance, along with theHollywood Kickers,Los Angeles Heat andSan Diego Nomads. The teams continued the first year practice of playing outside teams (Manchester City andDundee FC this year) with results counting in the alliance standings.
F.C. Portland saw a significant improvement over the previous season. Behind the production of forwardsBrent Goulet (league leading 9 goals and 2 assists), andMark Miller (7 goals and 5 assists), the team finished second in the standings with a 6-6-2 record. At the time, Goulet played forWarner Pacific College, a local school. He played with F.C. Portland as an amateur.
In 1986, former Timbers playerClive Charles began coaching theUniversity of Portland (U.P.) men's soccer team, bringing this team to national prominence. This led to an infusion of U.P. players into F.C. Portland in later years.
In 1987, Edmonton dropped from the alliance to join theCanadian Soccer League and the Hollywood Kickers changed their name to the California Kickers. The league also reduced the number of games from 12 to 10. Despite the Brent Goulet's outstanding play, which led to his selection as the season MVP, F.C. Portland finished fourth in the standings and missed out on the alliance's first playoff, won by theSan Diego Nomads.
At the end of the season, the team lost Goulet when he finished his four years atWarner Pacific College and signed with British clubAFC Bournemouth.
This year saw F.C. Portland drop to the bottom of the end of year standings despite once again having the alliance's leading scorer,Scott Benedetti with 8 goals and no assists. At the time Benedetti was between his junior and senior year playing soccer forClive Charles at theUniversity of Portland. The alliance kept the same teams as the 1987 season, but played 12 games, including games againstCanadian Soccer League teams,Calgary Kickers andVancouver 86ers. F.C. Portland finished 1-11.
This year the alliance named anAll Star team. Ironically, not only did Portland have the alliance's top scorer, but also had its goalkeeper,Todd Strobeck, named to the alliance'sAll Star team.
In 1989, F.C. Portland went through several changes. First, Art Dixon, a local businessman, took control of F.C. Portland and renamed it the Portland Timbers. Dixon was a long time Timbers fan, holding season tickets from 1979 through the team's last season in 1982. Dixon brought more than a name change, he also injected money and a higher level of professionalism into the team, bringing former Timbers greatJohn Bain back as a player/coach. Then, the Western Soccer Alliance became the Western Soccer League (WSL). More importantly for Portland, the WSL added three new teams,Real Santa Barbara,Arizona Condors andSacramento Senators. To accommodate the new teams, the Western Soccer League split into two divisions – North and South. The Portland Timbers joined theSan Jose Earthquakes now known as theSan Francisco Bay Blackhawks, theF.C. Seattle now known as theSeattle Storm and the newSacramento Senators in the North Division.
Portland made yet another wild swing in the standings from the previous season. Improving from 1-11, Portland finished the year at 11-5 and tied with the Blackhawks for the North Division lead. The Blackhawks won the division championship, and the playoff berth, based on goal differential.
The team continued its tradition of placing its players on the end of year honors lists. GoalkeeperKasey Keller was selected as the league's MVP. Additionally, Portland placed Keller, midfielder/coachJohn Bain and forwardScott Benedetti on the WSL All Star team. At the time, Keller was also playingNCAA soccer with theUniversity of Portland.
In February 1990, the WSL announced it had reached a merger agreement with theAmerican Soccer League, which had teams along the east coast. The new league was named theAmerican Professional Soccer League. The APSL was split into East and West Conferences, both with North and South Divisions. The Portland Timbers remained in the North Division, which also had theSan Francisco Bay Blackhawks,Seattle Storm and newly establishedSalt Lake Sting andColorado Foxes.
This year, Portland's final, the team finished with a 10-10 record and out of playoff contention. This was also the first year the team failed to garner any individual player honors. Its leading goal scorer,Shawn Medved with 10 goals and 2 assists, was seventh on the league's scoring list.Kasey Keller had also moved on after playing in the1990 FIFA World Cup and then signing with British clubMillwall andScott Benedetti had transferred to Seattle.
At the end of the season, the high hopes which had come with the merger between the WSL and APSL crashed. Over half of the teams from the 1990 season, including Portland, would not return for the 1991 season. Team owner Art Dixon folded the team, having lost more than $500,000 over the two years he owned the team.
MVP
Leading scorer
Top Goalkeeper
First Team All Star
This is a complete list of seasons for the WSL/APSL club.[1][2] For a season-by-season history including the currentPortland Timbers MLS franchise, seeList of Portland Timbers seasons.
| Season | League | Position | Playoffs | USOC | Continental | Average attendance | Top goalscorer(s) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div | League | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Conf. | Overall | Name | Goals | ||||||
| 1985 | 3 | WACS | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 16 | −8 | 5 | 0.71 | N/A | 4th | − | DNE | Ineligible | − | N/A | N/A | |
| 1986 | WSA | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 22 | −3 | 20 | 1.43 | 3rd | − |  Brent Goulet | 9 | ||||||
| 1987 | WSA | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 15 | –6 | 15 | 1.50 | 4th | DNQ | − | 3 players tied | 2 | |||||
| 1988 | WSA | 12 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 16 | 32 | –16 | 3 | 0.25 | 6th | – | Scott Benedetti | 8 | ||||||
| 1989 | 2 | WSL | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 32 | 25 | +7 | 33 | 2.06 | 2nd | 3rd | SF | – | Scott Benedetti | 8 | |||
| 1990 | APSL | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 30 | 1.50 | 4th | 8th | DNQ | – | Shawn Medved | 10 | ||||
| Total | – | – | 79 | 34 | 41 | 4 | 126 | 146 | –20 | 106 | 1.34 | – | – | – | – | — | – | Scott Benedetti | 18 | |
^ 1.Avg. attendance include statistics from league matches only.
^ 2.Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in League, League Playoffs,U.S. Open Cup,CONCACAF Champions League,FIFA Club World Cup, and other competitive continental matches.
^ 3.Points andPPG have been adjusted from non-traditional to traditional scoring systems for seasons after 1986 to more effectively compare historical team performance across seasons.
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Forwards