FC Dallas

The Dallas Burn era: 1996–2004

Dallas was awarded a Major League Soccer franchise on June 6, 1995, the same day as teams were awarded to Kansas City and Colorado. The team was given its name for the burning in the Texan oilfields and the state's hot weather. On October 17, former Mexico international Hugo Sánchez was designated to the team as their first player. Initially not attracting investors, the Burn was financed by the league itself.

On April 14, 1996, the Dallas Burn played their first game, defeating the San Jose Clash in a shootout win in front of a crowd of 27,779 fans at the Cotton Bowl. Five days later, Jason Kreis scored the team's first goal in a 3–0 home win over the Kansas City Wiz. With a record of 17–15, the Burn finished in second in the Western Conference behind the Los Angeles Galaxy. They lost in the best of three playoff semifinals to the Wiz after three games, the last one being decided by a shootout. Their first campaign in the U.S. Open Cup ended with a 2–3 home defeat in the semi-finals against D.C. United. In their second season, the Burn again reached the playoffs, where they lost in the conference finals to the Colorado Rapids. Later in 1997, they won their first U.S. Open Cup by defeating the MLS Cup champions, D.C. United. In 1999, striker Kreis was voted the league's MVP for a season in which he became the first player to reach 15 goals and 15 assists. That season ended in the playoffs with a defeat to the Galaxy in the conference finals. In October 2000, head coach Dave Dir was fired, despite again taking the team to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive time.

Dir's replacement in January 2001 was Mike Jeffries, who had won the 1998 MLS Cup and two U.S. Open Cups with the Chicago Fire. In his first season in charge, which was cut short as a result of the September 11 attacks, Dallas lost in the playoff quarterfinals to Jeffries' former team. For the 2003 season, the Burn relocated their home games from the Cotton Bowl to the much lower capacity Dragon Stadium (a high school football stadium) in Southlake, which is a northern Fort Worth suburb. The team performed poorly in 2003 and Jeffries was fired in September. He was temporarily replaced by his assistant, former Northern Ireland international Colin Clarke. The team missed the playoffs for the first time, having been one of only two teams to have qualified on all seven prior occasions.

For the 2004 season, Clarke was named the permanent coach and the team returned to the Cotton Bowl, for a campaign in which they again missed the playoffs. In August, club owner Lamar Hunt announced that the club, would be re-branded and known as "FC Dallas" to coincide with their new soccer-specific stadium in Frisco for the 2005 season.

The FC Dallas era: 2005–present

In March 2005, FC Dallas signed Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz, who had scored 50 goals in 72 games for the Galaxy and earned the MVP award for helping them to the 2002 MLS Cup. On August 6, FC Dallas played their inaugural game at Pizza Hut Park and tied the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, 2–2. Ranked second in the West behind the San Jose Earthquakes, Dallas returned to the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, losing in the conference semifinals to Colorado in a penalty kick shootout, with Roberto Miña's attempt saved by Joe Cannon. In 2006, the team finished the regular season at the top of the Western Conference, but lost in the playoffs in the conference semifinals again, leading to Clarke's dismissal. He was replaced by Steve Morrow. In 2007, a third consecutive playoff appearance ended at the same stage with a 4–2 aggregate defeat to fellow Texas club, the Houston Dynamo, who would go on to win their second consecutive MLS Cup. In 2005 and 2007, Dallas reached their first two U.S. Open Cup finals since their 1997 victory, losing both by one-goal margins to the Galaxy and the New England Revolution respectively. For the following two seasons, Dallas missed the MLS playoffs. During the 2008 season, Morrow was replaced by Schellas Hyndman. In 2009, the club signed Bryan Leyva as the club's first Homegrown Player from its academy.

In 2010, Dallas played in the MLS Cup for the first time, losing 2–1 after extra time to Colorado at BMO Field in Toronto, after an own goal by George John. On-loan Colombian midfielder David Ferreira was voted the league's MVP, having missed only one minute of the season, and Hyndman won the MLS Coach of the Year Award.

By finishing as runners-up in the MLS Cup, Dallas competed in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League, their first time in the leading continental tournament. Following a victory in the preliminary round against Alianza F.C. of El Salvador, they reached the group stage. In the first group game, Marvin Chávez's goal defeated Mexican champions UNAM at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario, making Dallas the first MLS team to win an away match in the Champions League against a Mexican team. The team followed this achievement with a victory by the same score at Toronto FC, but did not win any of their four remaining games and were eliminated from the competition after finishing in third place in their group. In October 2013, Hyndman resigned as head coach after a second consecutive season without making the playoffs.

Three months after Hyndman's resignation, his replacement was confirmed to be Colombian and former Dallas player and assistant coach Óscar Pareja, who had resigned from the Colorado Rapids after two seasons as head coach there. Pareja led the club back to the playoffs in 2014. Dallas finished in first place in the Western Conference in 2015. They defeated the Seattle Sounders FC in the conference semifinals, only to fall to the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference finals. Their regular season performance earned them a return to the Champions League for 2016–17.

Colors and badge

Originally, the Dallas Burn played in a predominantly red-and-black color scheme, and had a logo which featured a fire-breathing black mustang behind a stylized red "Burn" wordmark. The logo and the original colors of red and black were revealed at an event in New York City on October 17, 1995.

The team re-branded as FC Dallas in 2005 to coincide with their move to Pizza Hut Park in the middle of that season and has since played in a color scheme of red, white, silver, and blue, and a uniform design of horizontally hooped stripes. The colors are officially listed as Republic Red, Lonestar White, Shawnee Silver, and Bovine Blue. Red remained as a primary color in their home uniforms, with blue eventually becoming a primary color of their away uniforms. The club badge was also changed with a bull replacing the mustang. In July 2012, the team wore their first sponsored jerseys, bearing the logo of Texan sports nutrition manufacturers AdvoCare. For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the hoops were a different shade of red rather than a contrasting white. The jersey also incorporated the motto "Dallas 'Til I Die" on the inside of the collar and the initials "LH" on the back for Lamar Hunt.

Uniform evolution

Stadium

FC Dallas has had three different home stadiums, each of which has been located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

From its foundation, the team played in the 92,100-capacity Cotton Bowl in Dallas. In an effort to save money due to the club's unfavorable lease with the Cotton Bowl, the club played its 2003 home games at Dragon Stadium, a high school stadium in Southlake, a Fort Worth suburb. After listening to its fans, the team moved back to the Cotton Bowl for the 2004 season.

In August 2005, the club moved into Pizza Hut Park, a 20,500-capacity soccer-specific stadium in the northern suburb of Frisco. After Pizza Hut left as a primary sponsor, the stadium was renamed as Toyota Stadium in September 2013. The stadium is part of a complex with 17 soccer fields, booked more than 350 days per year with annual visits of 1.8 million people. The stadium is currently undergoing renovations to incorporate the National Soccer Hall of Fame into the complex.

Supporters

FC Dallas has five recognized supporters groups: Dallas Football Elite, Red Shamrock, Dallas Beer Guardians, Lonestar Legion and El Matador.

Rivalries

FC Dallas' main rival is the Houston Dynamo in the Texas Derby. The two teams reside in the same state and compete for El Capitan, a working replica Civil War cannon that goes to the regular season victor.

Animosity grew between fans and players of FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids, mainly sparking from Colorado players' comments towards the fans and Colorado's victories over FC Dallas in the 2005 and 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs.

In addition to the Texas Derby, the team also competes in two other MLS rivalry cups. The Brimstone Cup against the Chicago Fire, so named for the allusions to fire in both teams' names when FC Dallas was the Dallas Burn, was inaugurated by the fans in 2001. The Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup has been contested against the Columbus Crew since 2007. It is named after Lamar Hunt, who was an investor in both teams. Due to league expansion and realignment, FC Dallas only plays Chicago and Columbus once a year now in the regular season, which has led to decreased importance of these two rivalry cups, especially when compared to the Texas Derby.

Song

During a period where MLS created songs for each club, the team anthem was "H-O-O-P-S Yes!" and was performed by Dallas natives The Polyphonic Spree, a choral symphonic rock group.

Affiliated teams

FC Dallas is formally associated with Oklahoma City Energy FC of the United Soccer League, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. They were affiliated with Arizona United SC of the USL in 2015. Abroad, the team was previously affiliated to Tigres de la UANL of Mexico and Clube Atlético Paranaense of Brazil.

Sponsorship

Pizza Hut was the title sponsor of the club's stadium and complex when it opened in 2005. On June 27, 2012, FC Dallas reached a three-year sponsorship deal with AdvoCare, a Plano-based health and wellness company, worth US$7.5M making AdvoCare the official jersey sponsor. After the 2012 season, Pizza Hut ended their relationship with the club, and the stadium was temporarily renamed as FC Dallas Stadium. In September 2013 FC Dallas reached a long term deal with Toyota to be official stadium naming rights partners, and the stadium was once again renamed, this time as Toyota Stadium. In October 2014 FC Dallas and AdvoCare announced an extension of the jersey sponsorship through 2020.

Broadcasting

Currently, the club's non-nationally televised games are primarily broadcast on local channel KTXA. This arrangement began with the 2015 season. The club has struggled to find consistent broadcast partners in the crowded Dallas-Fort Worth sports market. On February 25, 2013, FC Dallas signed a deal with Time Warner Cable to air most of its games on the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel in Dallas, replacing Fox Sports Southwest as the primary broadcaster of games. This arrangement lasted for two seasons. It was not popular with fans as the channel was not available on many cable and satellite packages besides those offered by Time Warner. The channel still broadcasts some games that are not broadcast by KTXA. Also, in some areas outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth market, the channel continues to broadcast the club's games. Until the 2012 season, FC Dallas matches appeared on various local stations such as KTXA and WFAA (digital channel 8.3), and regional sports network Fox Sports Southwest (often on alternate Fox Sports Southwest Plus channels when conflicting with Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, and Dallas Stars games).

In 2012, Dallas Mavericks play-by-play announcer Mark Followill also became the primary play-by-play announcer for FC Dallas replacing the late Bobby Rhine. Former Houston Dynamo announcer Jonathan Yardley filled in as play-by-play announcer whenever Followill was unavailable due to his responsibilities with the Mavericks. In 2013, Bob Sturm (weekday early afternoon co-host on sports radio KTCK) replaced Yardley, who later returned for the 2016 season as substitute for Followill and Sturm. The color commentator spot has been filled by a rotation of former MLS players including: Brian Dunseth, Ian Joy, Kevin Hartman, Steve Jolley, and Dante Washington. FC Dallas employee Daniel Robertson or Sturm (beginning in 2016) fill in when one of the others is not available. Beginning with the new KTXA deal in 2015, longtime local sports broadcaster Gina Miller hosts a team produced 30 minute pregame show on select broadcasts.

Just like on television, the club struggled to find radio broadcast partners. For several seasons, there were no English radio broadcasts of FC Dallas games. Beginning with the 2014 season, English radio broadcasts returned for the club. KWRD-FM began broadcasting all games (including a postgame show) with longtime soccer journalist Steve Davis on the call. KFLC has all games in Spanish with Carlos Alvarado and Rafa Calderon on the call.

Players and staff

Current roster

Honors

Year-by-year stats

Note: MLS did not allow ties prior to the 2000 season as games were decided by shootout when tied at full-time.

MLS Scoring Champion/Golden Boot

The following players have won the MLS Scoring Champion or the Golden Boot.

International competition