In October 1987, the
American Soccer League announced that it had awarded a franchise to
Joe Robbie which would be located in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Robbie, who owned the
Minnesota Strikers of the
Major Indoor Soccer League announced his intentions of resurrecting the name Fort Lauderdale Strikers and hired
Wim Suurbier to coach the team. The team played their home games in
Lockhart Stadium. In their first season, the Strikers stormed the ASL, finishing with a 14–6 record, best in the league, before falling to the
Washington Diplomats in the finals. In 1988, Robbie later sold his share in the team to Noel Lemon. In January 1989, Suurbier resigned as coach to be replaced by
Thomas Rongen. In their second season the Strikers did almost as well, finishing the season at 12–8. They went on to defeat the
Boston Bolts for the 1989 championship. This qualified them for the
1989 National Pro Soccer Championship, the first American national outdoor soccer championship since the collapse of the
North American Soccer League in 1984. On September 9, 1989, the Strikers defeated the
San Diego Nomads of the
Western Soccer League, 3–1, to win the title. Following that game, the ASL merged with the WSL to form the
American Professional Soccer League. They played five more years in that league. For the 1990 season seven home games were played at
Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium and five at the Royal Palm Polo Club in
Boca Raton, after the
Broward School Board denied the team access to Lockhart Stadium. In January 1991, the Strikers merged with the
Orlando Lions. The combined team retained the Strikers name, uniforms and staff. Soon after Lemons sold the team to Bryan Lockwood. The
1993 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the fourth season of the team in the
American Professional Soccer League. It was the club's twenty-seventh season in professional soccer. This year, with goalkeeper
Chris Antonopoulos and Jorge Valenzuelai in goal, the team finished with a win-loss record of 9-15, placing sixth place in the regular season. They did not make it to the playoffs. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers finished the
1994 APSL season with a record of 8 wins, 12 losses, and 2 shootout wins, placing fifth in the league with 72 points. The team had an ongoing rivalry with the
Tampa Bay Rowdies that stemmed from Robbie's
previous Strikers team's rivalry with same Rowdies, while playing in the
NASL. ==Kit==