The Impact club was founded in 1992 by the Saputo family, as the owners of the
Montreal Supra of the
Canadian Soccer League did not pursue an
APSL franchise by the deadline set by the U.S. league. The Montreal ownership and front office split with their main financial sponsor announcing the start of a new APSL club on December 13, 1992, with the Supra coach. In 1993, the APSL was trying to gain the USSF Division 1 sanctioning required by FIFA with the award of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the estimated $60 million in World Cup profits; it was seen as a league with much more upside than the CSL. They became a dominant club in the APSL (1993–1996) and the
A-League (1997–2004), renamed the USL First Division (2005). The team did not compete during the 1999 A-League season. Their main rivals were the
Rochester Rhinos and the
Toronto Lynx prior to the latter's move to the
USL Premier Development League. Following a lacklustre first year, the Impact surprised the defending champion
Colorado Foxes (1–0) on October 15, 1994, at home in front of a sold out Montreal crowd to claim their first league title. Subsequently, the team finished first or tied for first during the regular season in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003 without making it back to the final. The Impact lost to archrivals Rochester in their first four playoff encounters, in 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2003, before finally defeating them in 2004 en route to their second title. The club was favoured to repeat in 2005, but after a near-flawless season (3 losses in 28 games) the Impact were ousted in the semi-finals by the eventual champions, the Seattle Sounders (2–2, 1–2). The team also won the inaugural
Voyageurs Cup in 2002 and successfully defended this title from 2003 to 2008. In 2009, the Impact were crowned at home for their third title, beating the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC by an aggregate score of 6–3 in a Cinderella ending to a tumultuous season. In 2004, the Impact finished first in the A-League's Eastern Conference before disposing of Rochester (1–0, 1–0), Syracuse (2–0, 1–1), and Seattle (2–0) in the playoffs to capture their second championship, 10 years after their first. The final in Montreal saw an all-time-record 13,648 fans at Stadium (whose
seating capacity for the day was adjusted from 10,100). The MVP was
Mauricio Vincello who scored the winner at the 33rd minute of play.
Frederick Commodore sealed the game with a goal at the 78th minute. At the gate, the Impact had always been solid within the league before 1999 with average crowds of 4,000–5,000. After disappointing seasons in 2000 and 2001 (where the average gate was between 2,000 and 3,000 people), the team had new record attendances in 2002 (over 5,000 on average), 2003 (over 7,000 on average), 2004 (over 9,000 on average) and 2005–2006 (over 11,000 on average). The all-time single-game high was the 55,571 fans in attendance for the 2009
CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final against
Santos Laguna (Mexico) at
Olympic Stadium in Montreal. In 1999, the owners had a conflict with the league and withdrew the team from competition, but did play
indoor soccer that year in the
National Professional Soccer League. After resurfacing in 2000, the club went bankrupt during the 2001 season when the then-owners were Ionian. Administered until the end of the season by one of the original pillars,
Joey Saputo, the club rose from its ashes in 2002, set up as a nonprofit organization owned by the
Quebec government,
Hydro-Québec, and Saputo. It also attracted many big-time sponsors such as the
National Bank of Canada,
Bell Canada and
Coca-Cola, among others. The team's mandate is to develop local talent and to serve as a representative of
Montreal for tourism. Since the Impact's renaissance in 2002, Quebec-born players have played a much more central role in the Canada national team, after many years of non-selection. For the 2005 Gold Cup, players
Gabriel Gervais,
Sandro Grande,
Patrick Leduc,
Adam Braz and
Ali Gerba, as well as former player
Patrice Bernier and Quebec-born
Olivier Occean were all called to the national team and did well by most accounts. The visibility helped Grande and Ali, who both transferred to Scandinavia shortly after the tournament. On July 15, 2006, the team won the 200th victory in its history. For the first time in its history, the Montreal Impact contracted players to 10 months out of the year in 2008. This extended training camp was a first for the Montreal Impact and many in the media have stated that it is a move to next level in professional soccer. They began the year at the soccer training centre,
Soccerplexe Catalogna before travelling to Italy for more training and three exhibition games against Italian clubs. They drew their first match 0–0 against third division Arezzo, lost their second match 1–0 against second division Frosinone and finally won their third encounter 1–0 against fourth division Cassino. In 2008, the Montreal Impact won the Canadian Championship, gaining the chance to represent Canada in the
CONCACAF Champions League. The tournament features the best teams in all of North and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. The Impact won two legs against Real Estali 1–0 and 0–0 to secure a spot in the tournament. Montreal competed then in the group stage where they defeated Joe Public FC of Trinidad 2–0 and 4–1 and CD Olimpia of Honduras 2–1 and 1–1. They finished off against Atlante FC of Mexico which they tied 0–0 and then lost 2–1. On February 25, 2009, the team won the first leg of the quarterfinals match 2–0 against
Santos Laguna from Mexico. The match was played at Montreal's
Olympic Stadium in front of a club-record crowd of 55,571. The second leg was held on March 5, 2009, at Corona Stadium, in Torreon, Mexico, where the Impact led 2–1 at the half (4–1 on aggregate). With the Impact only a few minutes from a semi-final berth, Santos Laguna's
Carlos Quintero scored twice in stoppage time to rally the homeside to a 5–2 victory, thus eliminating the Impact from the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League 5–4 on aggregate. Following the match, head coach John Limniatis commented that his side "should have done better", noting that it was "unfortunate to finish this way". For the
2009 Canadian Championship, the Montreal Impact were eliminated early to the disappointment of fans. In the final match of the
Voyageurs Cup, with the Impact already eliminated, Head Coach
Marc Dos Santos decision to field a number of reserve team players drew controversy from fans of both the Impact and
Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The team went on to suffer its worst defeat in history, by losing 6–1 to archrival
Toronto FC of
Major League Soccer.
Toronto FC needed to win by 4 goals to advance to the
CONCACAF Champions League 2009-10 preliminary round. As a result, the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC were eliminated on goal differential, despite holding the same record as
Toronto FC. The Montreal Impact won their third championship in its history, Saturday October 17, 2009, in front of a sellout crowd of 13,034 at Saputo Stadium, defeating the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3–1, (6–3 on aggregate goals), in the First Division USL final championship, which was the first all Canadian First Division USL Final. All three of Montreal's championships have been won at home. Montreal had an up and down year that involved firing their coach and struggling early on, so winning the championship was a pleasant surprise to their fans. All the players agreed this championship was more special than their first two because they were expected to win those ones, while the 2009 edition was a surprise finalist, that most experts thought wouldn't advance out of the quarterfinals. In November 2009 the Impact announced their intent to leave the USL First Division to become the co-founders of a new
North American Soccer League, which would begin play in 2010. The league, which has yet to be sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation or the Canadian Soccer Association, would also comprise the
Atlanta Silverbacks,
Carolina Railhawks,
Crystal Palace Baltimore,
Miami FC,
Minnesota Thunder,
Tampa Bay Rowdies,
Vancouver Whitecaps and a brand new team led by
St. Louis Soccer United. After lawsuits were filed and heated press statements exchanged, the USSF declared they would sanction neither league for the coming year, and ordered both to work together on a plan to temporarily allow their teams to play a 2010 season. The interim solution was announced on January 7, 2010, with the USSF running the new USSF D-2 league comprising clubs from both USL-1 and NASL.
The Impact and Major League Soccer Towards the end of 2007, much speculation had been made about a possible franchise move from
USL First Division to
Major League Soccer. The construction of the expandable
Saputo Stadium further suggested such an interest on the part of the Impact to move up to the top level American league. Chairman Joey Saputo held talks with
George Gillett (former owner of
Montreal Canadiens and co-owner of
Liverpool F.C.) regarding possible joint ownership of an MLS franchise. On July 24, 2008, MLS announced they were seeking to add two expansion teams for the 2011 season, of which Montreal was listed as a potential candidate. On November 22, 2008, the team's bid for an MLS franchise, was not retained by commissioner
Don Garber. In response to Vancouver's successful bid in March 2009, Impact GM
Nick De Santis commented that he expected chairman
Joey Saputo to pursue and ultimately realize his vision of Montreal as an MLS franchise someday. On May 16, 2009, the
Montreal Gazette reported that MLS commissioner
Don Garber and Montreal Impact president
Joey Saputo have resumed talks for an expansion team to begin play in 2011. On May 7, 2010, it was officially announced by MLS commissioner
Don Garber that Montreal had been granted the league's 19th franchise, and would begin play in the 2012 season. The MLS club retained the Montreal Impact name until 2021 when they rebranded as
CF Montréal. ==Colours and badge==