President: Arthur Arnold
Clubs and players
Montreal Alouettes was by many described as the hottest soccer club in Canada. Nick Schmidinghen put together a fantastic squad for the 1959 season by importing several players from South America. The first player he brought to Montreal was former Argentinian international Norberto Iacono. Then followed Omar Muraco, Antonio Bonezzi, Ruben Luz, Hector Dadderio, Osvaldo de Brasi and Carlos Bustamente. The club was financed by Joe Slyomovics, a real estate dealer and a furrier.
In October Alouettes signed the first black player to play for a Montreal club. He was Adolfo Zevallos a 25 year old right half. He had played for Municipal in Lima, Peru and Guadalajara in Mexico.
Montreal Hungaria topped the league table for some time until they sold Imre Dora to Hamilton Italo-Canadians.
Toronto Sparta were led by player-coach Sammy Cox. Cox was a former Scottish International and a star at Glasgow Rangers. After the season Sparta toured Bermuda.
Hamilton Hungaria changed their name to Hamilton Cougars before the start of the season. The club only lasted one season in the NSL as they were voted out after the season. They had failed to turn up with a full team on several occasions.
Review of the season
Toronto Italia finished their league season on Tuesday night September 15 when they defeated Tridents 4-1. Italia topped the league at this time but Cantalia still had three games to play.
Cantalia won the league championship when they beat Hamilton Cougars 3-0 on Saturday October 3 in Montreal. The win gave Cantalia 37 points, one more than Toronto Italia with 36 points.
Toronto Italia finished second to Cantalia in the league but won the playoffs. They were the leagues top drawing card, atrracting more than 5,000 per game at Fred Hamilton Park.
The 14 National Soccer League clubs drew a combined attendance of 449,000. The eight Toronto teams drew 292,000, the four Montreal entries attracted 112,000 and the two Hamilton sides about 45,000.
Results and standings:
Final standings GP W L T GF GA Pts Montreal Cantalia 26 17 6 3 68 33 37 Toronto Italia 26 14 4 8 47 36 36 Toronto Ukraina 26 14 7 5 73 41 33 Montreal Hungaria 26 15 9 2 69 39 32 Hamilton Italo-Can. 26 12 8 6 64 54 30 Toronto Hungaria 26 12 10 4 60 44 28 Montreal Alouettes 26 11 9 6 63 47 28 Toronto Sparta 26 9 9 8 39 46 26 Toronto Olympia 26 8 13 5 50 59 21 Montreal Ukraina 26 9 15 2 44 55 20 Toronto Tridents 26 7 13 6 38 64 20 Ulster United 26 8 15 3 37 68 19 Toronto White Eagles 26 5 14 7 45 70 17 Hamilton Cougars 26 6 15 5 33 74 17 Leading goalscorer: Gls 1. Imre Dora (Hamilton Italo-Canadians) 31
Toronto Semi-finals (Four teams, round robin series)
October 7, 1959 Fred Hamilton Park, Toronto
Toronto Italia
Hamilton Italo-Canadians
October 9, 1959 Toronto
Toronto Hungaria
Toronto Ukraina
October 11, 1959 Toronto
Toronto Italia
Toronto Hungaria
October 12, 1959 Toronto
Referee: Dennis Prinold
Toronto Ukraina 4 (Alex Czayka, Walter Chyzowych, ???, ???)
Hamilton Italo-Canadians 2 (Wally McWilliams, Ernie Stanfield)
October 17, 1959
Toronto Italia 3
Toronto Hungaria 2
October 18, 1959 Toronto
Toronto Hungaria 4
Hamilton Italo-Canadians 1
Italia and Hungaria tied on 5 points. Playoff October 20.
NSL Play-offs
Montreal
October 11, 1959 Faillon Stadium, Montreal
Cantalia 4 (DiCroce 2, Campo, Valentino)
Hungaria 0
October 14, 1959 Faillon Stadium, Montreal
Cantalia 2 (Valentino 2)
Hungaria 3 (Kenderes 2, Kiralyi)
October 18, 1959 Faillon Stadium, Montreal
Cantalia 4 (Russ Valentino 2, Michel DiCroce, Bob Johnstone)
Hungaria 2 (Charlie Horvath, Arpad Kiraly)
Cantalia won series 2 games to 1
October 20, 1959
Toronto Italia beat Toronto Hungaria
Finals
October 24, 1959 Fred Hamilton Park, Toronto
Toronto Italia 1 (Madlin)
Montreal Cantalia 0
October 25, 1959 Fred Hamilton Park, Toronto
Toronto Italia 1 (Emil Erbach)
Exhibition games
August 22, 1959 Varsity Stadium, Toronto
Attendance: 2,500
Toronto Italia 0
Palermo (Italy) 1 (Ulderico Sacchella)
