1971 North American Soccer League season

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1971. This was the 4th season of the NASL.

Overview
Eight teams competed in the 1971 season. The Dallas Tornado won the league championship after playing several playoff matches under the new sudden death rule, which replaced the penalty shootout. In Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal against the Rochester Lancers, league scoring champion Carlos Metidieri of Rochester scored to end the match at 2–1 in the 176th minute after six periods of overtime—shortly before midnight. Three days later, Dallas tied the series with a 3–1 regulation win. In the deciding match, the two teams ended regulation with a 1–1 tie and played four overtime periods before Bobby Moffat scored in the 148 minute for a 2–1 victory. Four days later, Dallas lost Game 1 of the NASL Championship Series, 2–1, in the 3rd overtime to the Atlanta Chiefs after 123 minutes. All totaled, Dallas had played 537 minutes of soccer (3 minutes short of six games) in 13 days. The Tornado won 4–1 in Game 2 and 2–0 in Game 3 to clinch the league championship.

Rule changes
Playoffs series switched from a two-game aggregate score to a best-two-out-of-three match format. Any playoff games tied after 90 minutes would now be settled by golden goal (or sudden death) overtime periods lasting 15 minutes each.

New teams

 * Montreal Olympique
 * New York Cosmos
 * Toronto Metros

Teams folding

 * Kansas City Spurs

Teams moving

 * None

Name changes

 * None

Regular season
W = Wins, L = Losses, T= Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system

6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each goal scored up to three per game.
 * -Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.

Game three
1971 NASL Champions: Dallas Tornado

Post season awards

 * Most Valuable Player: Carlos Metidieri, Rochester
 * Coach of the year: Ron Newman, Dallas
 * Rookie of the year: Randy Horton, New York