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1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer

North American Soccer League
1983 Grand Prix of Indoor
NASL Indoor Grand Prix
Tournament details
Dates January 21, 1983 –
February 20, 1983
Teams 4
Final positions
Champions Tampa Bay Rowdies (3rd title)
Runners-up Montreal Manic
Tournament statistics
Matches played 16
Goals scored 199 (12.44 per match)
Attendance 37,111 (2,319 per match)
Top scorer(s) England Laurie Abrahams
Canada Dale Mitchell
(12 goals)
Best player England Laurie Abrahams
Algeria Mehdi Cerbah

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

The Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, Montreal, and Tulsa franchises opted to play the Grand Prix in early 1983 as a makeshift 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 finished the preliminary rounds with the top seed. Tampa Bay won the championship final 5–4 on a golden goal by Mark Karpun in double overtime. This victory marked the Rowdies' third indoor title and fourth 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.


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