Marianas Soccer League 1 Explained

Marianas Soccer League 1
Pixels:200
Country:Northern Mariana Islands
Founded:[1]
Teams:9
Levels:1
Confed Cup:AFC Challenge League
Marianas Club Championship
Champions:Eleven Tiger (1st title)
Season:2023
Most Successful Club:Tan Holdings (6 titles)[2]
Tv:FIFA+ (live streaming)

The Marianas Soccer League 1 is the men's top level professional football competition of the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association. It is above the Marianas Soccer League 2, but there is no regular promotion/relegation between the two competitions.

History

The league began as an invitational event in the Northern Mariana Islands. The league has been operating since 2005[1] and grew to include eight teams in the 2008 season.[3] [4]

On 2 August 2012 the competition was re-branded as the M-League, following the suit of many other AFC national competitions. In September 2012, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA) officially launched a two tier completion, usually without promotion and relegation. In the inaugural season there were 5 teams in Division 1 and 4 teams in generally amateur Division 2.

After the 2020 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league was relaunched in Spring 2021 as the Marianas Soccer League.

Marianas Club Championship

Since 2023, the winners of the Marianas Soccer League 1 and the Guam Soccer League compete against each other in the Marianas Club Championship.[5]

Previous winners

Winners so far are:[2]

Northern Mariana Invitational Championship

L&S/Lyung-Seung

Fiesta Inter Saipan[6]

Inter Godfather's

Inter Godfather's

Inter Godfather's

MP United

M-League Division 1

Wild Bills

Tan Holdings

Wild Bills

Wild Bills

Teen Ayuyu

All Blue

Marianas Soccer League

Top goalscorers

YearTop scorerTeamGoals
2007 Masatoshi Otsuka
200923[8]
201015
2016 Martin Jambor 14
201815

Hat-tricks multiple

Notes and References

  1. Web site: about the NMIFA. NMIFA. 20 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131014060232/http://www.nmifa.com/aboutnmifa. 14 October 2013. dead.
  2. Web site: Northern Marianas — List of Champions. RSSSF. 19 September 2013.
  3. Schöggl.H (2010) Northern Marianas 2010, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, 2010-08-11. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  4. http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=2&newsID=101630 'MP United rules men's league'
  5. Web site: Wings FC ready for first-ever Marianas Club Championship . 15 December 2023 . Pacific Daily News . 15 December 2023.
  6. http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=2&newsID=72204 'Fiesta Inter takes football crown'
  7. http://www.mvariety.com/cnmi/cnmi-news/sports/42628-inter-godfathers-bags-mens-league-title 'Inter Godfather's Bags Men's League Title'
  8. Schöggl.H (2010) Northern Marianas 2009, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2011-05-14.