1977 National Soccer League
President: Joe Piccininni
First vice-president: John Fisher
Second vice-president: Jose E. Sousa
The NSL also operated with two divisions, a First Division and a Second Division.
Referees
Referee-in-chief: Steve Sohuyko
Referees included Paul Avis (Rexdale, Ontario), Bill Bouwmeester (Chatham, Ontario), Nevio Novacco (Chatham, Ontario), Charlie Haslem (London, Ontario) Frank Pavicic, Bill Divorski, Borge Devantier (Belle River, Ontario), Mimmo Calavretta and Phil Clarke (London, Ontario).
Division 1
Review of the season
The season opened with three games on Sunday April 24. At Lamport Stadium Italia defeated Panhellenic 3-0. Hamilton Italo-Canadians tied Serbian White Eagles 1-1. Windsor Stars beat Toronto Croatia 3-1 in front of 1,000 fans at Mic Mac Park in Windsor.
First Portuguese opened their season on Wednesday April 27 with a 2-0 win over Hamilton Italo-Canadians.
Early in May First Portuguese signed Marinho. The former Sporting Lisboa and Portuguese star made his NSL debut against Windsor Stars on May 15 in Windsor. The match finished in a 1-1 tie.
On June 24 they suffered their first defeat in 16 games when they lost to London City in London. On July 3 Panhellenic beat First Portuguese 5-0 in front of a season-record crowd of 5,000.
The final league game of the 1977 season was played on Thursday October 6 when Hamilton Italo-Canadians beat Panhellenic 6-1.
Montreal Castors won the league championship with 56 points, two points more than Toronto Italia who finished the season with 54 points.
After a disastrous season Serbian White Eagles left the NSL but returned again for the 1979 season. Macedonia also left the league.
Division 1 Final Standings
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
| Montreal Castors | 36 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 93 | 56 | 56 |
| Toronto Italia | 36 | 22 | 4 | 10 | 74 | 22 | 54 |
| Panhellenic | 36 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 74 | 47 | 49 |
| Windsor Stars | 36 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 87 | 38 | 46 |
| First Portuguese | 36 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 72 | 43 | 43 |
| London City | 36 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 41 | 62 | 31 |
| Macedonia | 36 | 12 | 18 | 6 | 40 | 56 | 30 |
| Hamilton Italo-Canadians | 36 | 7 | 19 | 10 | 40 | 60 | 24 |
| Toronto Croatia | 36 | 7 | 23 | 6 | 34 | 78 | 20 |
| Serbian White Eagles | 36 | 0 | 29 | 7 | 24 | 137 | 7 |
Leading goalscorer – Saban Romanovic (Panhellenic)
Leading goalkeeper – Paolo Cimpiel (Toronto Italia)
Division 2
In December 1976, Club Roma applied for, and was granted, a franchise in the National Soccer League and changed their name to St. Catherines Roma. They were a member of the National Soccer League and the Canadian National Soccer League from 1977 through to 1997.
Review of the season
St. Catharines Heidelberg won 1-0 over Bradford Marshlanders on May 1 at Bradford High School in Bradford. It was the Marshlanders first league game of the season.
Toronto Falcons were Second Division league champions and earned promotion to the First Division.
Ottawa Tigers won promotion the First Division.
Division 2 Final Standings
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
| Toronto Falcons | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 48 | 10 | 32 |
| Ottawa Tigers | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 66 | 17 | 29 |
| Buffalo Blazers | 18 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 50 | 13 | 27 |
| Montreal Stars | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 53 | 23 | 24 |
| St. Catharines Roma | 18 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 38 | 25 | 20 |
| Sudbury Cyclones | 18 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 35 | 16 |
| St. Catharines Heidelberg | 18 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 22 | 35 | 12 |
| Mississauga Hungaria | 18 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 33 | 71 | 9 |
| Toronto Polonia | 18 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 25 | 65 | 7 |
| Bradford Marshlanders | 18 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 82 | 4 |
Leading goalscorer:
1. Billy Telford (Ottawa Tigers) 25 goals
2. Casey Soltysiak (Buffalo Blazers) 16 goals
Leading goalkeeper:
1. Jerzy Patola (Toronto Falcons)
Promotion-relagation play off
October 2, 1977 Toronto
Toronto Croatia 3 (Dennis D’Hugo 2, Steve Loparic)
Ottawa Tigers 1 (Tom Henderson)
October 10, 1977 Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa
Ottawa Tigers 2 (Bill McGill, Mike Wharton)
Toronto Croatia 0
President’s Cup
(National Soccer League Cup)
First round
May 21, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Macedonia
Polonia
XXX qualified for the second round
June 1, 1977 Montreal
Montreal Stars 0
Montreal Castors 1 (Aldo Desimone)
Montreal Castors qualified for the second round
June 12, 1977 War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
Buffalo Blazers 1 (Mario Citriniti)
St. Catharines Roma 2 (Greg Weir, Brian Shannon)
St. Catharines Roma qualified for the second round
June 14, 1977 St. Catharines
St. Catharines Heidelberg
Hamilton Italo-Canadians
XXX qualified for the second round
June 15, 1977 York Stadium
Toronto Italia 6
Brantford Marshlanders 0
Italia qualified for the second round
June 25, 1977 Windsor
Windsor Stars 0
Ottawa Tigers 2
Ottawa Tigers qualified for the second round
June 25, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Panhellenic 6 (Gene Soares 3, Alberto Gerez 2, Yanis Mantzourakis)
Sudbury Cyclones 1 (Walter Michelutti)
Panhellenic qualified for the second round
June 26, 1977 Mississauga
Mississauga Hungaria
First Portuguese
First Portuguese qualified for the second round
July 17, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Serbian White Eagles
London City
Second round
August 24, 1977 Claude Robillard Stadium, Montreal
Montreal Castors 6 (Paul McGee 3, Depadua Lima 2, Ugo Nicolini)
Ottawa Tigers 1 (Nino Flamini)
Montreal Castors qualified for the quarter-finals
August 30, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Panhellenic 2
Macedonia 0
Panhellenic qualified for the quarter-finals
XX, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
XX
XX
XX qualified for the quarter-finals
XX, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
XX
XX
XX qualified for the quarter-finals
Quarter-finals
XX
XX
Semi-finals
September 23, 1977 Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton Italo-Canadians 0
Panhellenic 1
Panhellenic qualified for President’s Cup Final
XX, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
XX
XX
President’s Cup Finals
XX, 1977 Lamport Stadium, Toronto
Panhellenic
XX
Panhellenic won the NSL Cup
Exhibition games
April 3, 1977 Warren Tower High School, Warren, Michigan
Detroit Vardar SC 0
Windsor Stars 4
June 5, 1977 War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo
Buffalo Blazers 1
Lazio (Italy) 6
Read about the match here.
National Soccer League 