wolves played in the western division alongside san francisco golden gate gales, chicago mustangs, houston stars, vancouver royal canadians and dallas tornado. these teams were represented by ado den haag, cagliari calcio, bangu ac, sunderland and dundee united. of the twelve teams in the league, wolves with a team coached by ronnie allen and featuring derek dougan, emerged as one of the strongest sides. after winning the western division, a flip of a coin gave them the right to host the championship play-off game against the eastern division champions, washington whips, who were represented by aberdeen. the match drew 17,824 to los angeles coliseum. wolves won the championship beating the whips 6–5 after 36 minutes of extra-time. four goals were scored within a 4-minute period midway through the second half and each team scored during extra time. the game was decided after whips defender ally shewan scored an own goal.