Montreal Impact Will Be Major League Soccer’s 19th Team

Expansion will continue in 2012 when Montreal becomes the 19th Major League Soccer franchise, the league announced at a news conference on Friday.

Currently with sixteen teams after the addition of Philadelphia this year, Montreal will be added on the heals of the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps in 2011.

The franchise will be owner by the Saputo family, who currently own the Montreal Impact of the North American Soccer League (currently playing in the United States Soccer Federation’s second division league).

With a move that is assumed will take the same route as Seattle Sounders FC took into the league, Montreal’s promotion to Major League Soccer was just a matter of time, according to Joey Saputo.

“I’ve always said this is no longer a question of ‘if,’ but of ‘when,’” Saputo said. “I can finally say ‘when’ is here, and it’s about time. ... The arrival of MLS in Montreal is nothing short of a revolution for our city and our soccer fans.”

Montreal will play in Saputo Stadium, which will undergo $22 million of renovations to raise its capacity to 20,000.

The new franchise will become the third Canadian team in the league, joining Toronto FC and Vancouver.

The Impact began play in 1993 in the American Professional Soccer League and was in the United Soccer Leagues’ First Division (USL-1) until last year, when they moved to the newly formed NASL.

In last season’s CONCACAF Champions League, Montreal gained continental recognition by beating Mexico’s Santos Laguna 2-0 in the first leg of their CCL quarterfinal tie, a match that drew 55,571 fans to Olympic Stadium, where the Impact will continue playing select games after joining MLS.

The Impact won USL-1 last year, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps in the final.

Montreal will be Major League Soccer’s seventh expansion team since Toronto started play in 2007.