New Jersey Stallions

USISL Select League (1996)
USL D3 Pro League (1997-2002)
USL Pro Soccer League (2003)
USL Premier Development League (2004)

Tombstone

Born: 1996 – USISL Select League expansion team
Folded: Postseason 2004*

First Game: ?
Last Game: July 18, 2004 (Result? vs. South Jersey Barons)

USL A-League Championships: None

*The NJ Stallions Academy remains in business as a youth program in 2021, but ceased competition as a pro amateur adult side after 2004.

Stadia

1997-1999: Toms River High School North (6,000)¹
Opened:
Surface: Grass

2001: Kean Stadium (5,000)²
Opened:
Surface: Astroturf

2002: Memorial Stadium (4,500)³
Opened:
Surface: Astroturf

2003-2004: DePaul Catholic Stadium (3,000)
Opened:
Surface: FieldTurf

Marketing

Team Colors: White & Blue⁴

Ownership & Affiliation

Owner: Nino Lupi

MLS Affiliation: MetroStars⁵

Record Book

USL D3 Pro League Most Valuable Player

2000: Julio-Cesar Dos Santos

USL D3 Pro League Coach-of-the-Year

2000: Robert McCourt

Background

The New Jersey Stallions are a long-time private youth club soccer program operating out of Clifton, New Jersey. But during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the organization also operated men’s – and, briefly, women’s – pro & amateur teams in the United Soccer Leagues.

The New Jersey Stallions men’s team debuted in 1996 as an expansion entry in the USISL Select League, a rody confederation of 21 low-budget clubs that shared 2nd Division pro status with the rival A-League that summer. 1996 also brought the debut of Major League Soccer, giving the U.S. its first proper 1st Division pro league since the NASL folded in 1985.

Over the years that followed, the Stallions would follow a path familiar to many of the dozens of mom & pop lower division soccer clubs that sprung up in the latter half of the 1990’s. Starting with the Stallions’ 1997 drop to the USL’s D3 Pro League (3rd division), the Stallions gradually self-relegated for financial reasons, while coming to appreciate that the organization’s core business was what it had always been: its youth soccer academies.

In 2003, the Stallions added a women’s team (the Lady Stallions) in the USL’s amateur W-League. The following year, 2004, the Stallions men followed the women into amateur status, dropping out of the USL’s third division league in favor of the USL’s amateur Premier Development League.

Following the 2004 season, the Stallions shuttered both their men’s and women’s USL clubs.

In Competition

The Stallions finest hour came during the 2000 season. New Jersey posted the best record (14-3-1) in the 22-team D3 Pro League. Despite having the superior record, the Stallions had to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for the league championship game on September 9th, 2000. In a shocking end to the season, the underdog Charlotte Eagles steamrolled the Stallions 5-0 to claim the title.

Julio-Cesar Dos Santos (20 goals, 4 assists) was the D3 Pro League scoring champion in 2000 and earned the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

The Stallions also competed in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for four consecutive years from 1999 through 2002, but lost in their opening match each year.