FC DALLAS

'FC Dallas' is a professional soccer (football) club based in Frisco, Texas, that participates in Major League Soccer. The club was known as the 'Dallas Burn' from 1996 to 2004. The initials "FC" stand for Football Club.^[1]

Contents

History

Colors and nickname

Rivalries

Honors

Current roster

Notable players

Head coaches

Team records

Ownership

Home stadiums

Media

Partner teams

Year-by-year

Average attendance

International competition

Trivia

Sources

External links

History

The team was founded as the Dallas Burn in 1996 the inaugural year of Major League Soccer. From 1996-2002 the team played in the Cotton Bowl. 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 Dallas Burn, as the team was called from 1996-2004, moved back to the Cotton Bowl for the 2004 season. Another factor to the move was the money that the club was losing due to the fact that there could be no alcohol sales at a public high school.
In August 2005, the club moved into Pizza Hut Park, a soccer-specific stadium in the northern suburb of Frisco. To celebrate this move, the club rebranded itself with a more soccer-fitting name, FC Dallas.
Since 2001, the club and the Chicago Fire have played for the Brimstone Cup, which goes to the team that wins the season series between the two teams.
The 2006 season saw the creation of Hoops Nation, an official supporters' club that allows fans to get two free tickets each year, a t-shirt, and other benefits, in exchange for a membership fee. The club works in concert with the existing supporters' group, Inferno (whose name derives from the team's days as the Dallas Burn), by offering discounted tickets to the group's special section. Another active supporters' group are La Raza Latina.

Colors and nickname

The team's colors are red, white, and blue. The club has used "Hoops" as part of press releases and marketing campaigns. The Hoops nickname describes the horizontal bands of the team's home and away kits, and refers to the similar sobriquets given to teams such as Celtic F.C. and Queens Park Rangers. Fans and media have also used such monikers as ''FCD'', ''The Red Stripes'', ''the Waldos'', and ''the Toros''.

Rivalries

FC Dallas' oldest rivalry is with Eastern conference rival the Chicago Fire. Since 2001, they have competed for the Brimstone Cup, with the name deriving from the original name of the club, the Dallas Burn. In 2005, the San Jose Earthquakes were put on hold and the team was relocated to Houston, sparking an intra-state rivalry with the new Houston club. The two teams play for El Capitan, a cannon that goes to the regular season victor. Recently, animosity has grown between fans and players of FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids, mainly sparking from Colorado players' comments towards the fans^[2] and Colorado's victories over FC Dallas in the post season.

Honors

★ 'MLS Supporters' Shield:'

★
★ 'Runners-up (1):' 2006

★ 'US Open Cup:'

★
★ 'Winners (1):' 1997

★
★ 'Runners-up (1):' 2005

Current roster

Players in 'bold' have international caps.

''As of August 25, 2007''
(1st. Vice-Captain)
(2nd. Vice-Captain)
(''on injured reserve'')
(3rd. Vice-Captain)
(4th. Vice-Captain)
(Captain)
:''Source: http://web.mlsnet.com/players/roster.jsp?club=t104''

Notable players

★ Denílson (2007—)

★ Leonel Álvarez (1996, 1998–1999)

★ Kenny Cooper (2006—)

★ Chad Deering (1998–2003)

★ Mark Dodd (1996–1999)

★ Ariel Graziani (1999–2001)

★ Shaka Hislop (2006-2007)

★ Eddie Johnson (2001–2005)

★ Jason Kreis (1996–2004)

★ Roberto Miña (2005—)

★ Ronnie O'Brien (2002-2006)

★ Óscar Pareja (1998–2005)

★ Jorge Rodríguez (1997–2002)

★ Carlos Ruiz (2005—)

★ Hugo Sánchez (1996)

★ Diego Soñora (1996-1997)

★ Alain Sutter (1997–1998)

★ Simo Valakari (2004-2006)

Head coaches

★ Dave Dir (1996–2000)

★ Mike Jeffries (2001–2003)

★ Colin Clarke (2003–2006)

★ Steve Morrow (2006- )

Team records

★ Games: Jason Kreis, 247

★ Goals: Jason Kreis, 91

★ Assists: Jason Kreis, 65

★ Shutouts: Matt Jordan, 30
''MLS regular season only, through 2006 season''

Ownership

★ Major League Soccer (1996–2002)

★ Hunt Sports Group (2003—)

Home stadiums

★ Cotton Bowl (1996–2002)

★ Dragon Stadium (2003)

★ Cotton Bowl (2004–2005)

★ Pizza Hut Park (2005—)

Media

FC Dallas's matches appear on television on FSN Southwest and KFWD. Brad Sham does the play-by-play while former Dallas coach Dave Dir does color commentary.
All matches are broadcast on radio, the English carrier is KXEZ and KZMP(AM) carries Spanish language broadcasts. Ray Canevari does the English play-by-play, while Carlos Alvarado and Jesus Padilla do Spanish play-by-play and color, respectively.

Partner teams

: FC Dallas and the Tigres "will combine efforts to further develop each club's youth academies. One initiative will see FC Dallas's affiliate youth clubs of FC Texas challenge Tigres' Youth Academy clubs in annual competitions to be played at each team's venue. The teams will also combine to conduct community clinics in each others markets"^[3] and play a home-and-away series for the Rio Grande Plate.
: FCD has locked up a deal with Brazilian Série A team Atlético Paranaense. The deal will feature a home-and-away match series between the two clubs in 2007 and also allows the teams to loan players to one another.^[4] Along with that, in anticipation of the MLS Youth Development initiatives FCD will be able to learn the youth players development process from the South American team.
:Off the field, the clubs will jointly develop and work on future projects including: "joint cooperative efforts regarding the growth of sponsors; cooperative efforts on soccer education programs; host business summits to develop mutual business relationships and strategies; and exchange best practices in the areas of business, marketing, ticket sales, sponsorship, broadcasting, and match-day commercial and entertainment activities."^[5]

★ An unnamed European club; Celtic, and a couple of Italian Serie A clubs are currently in the running for more international partnerships. ^[6]

Year-by-year

Year	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup
1996	2nd, West	Quarterfinals	Semifinals
1997	3rd, West	Semifinals	Champions
1998	4th, West	Quarterfinals	Semifinals
1999	2nd, West	Semifinals	Quarterfinals
2000	3rd, Central	Quarterfinals	Quarterfinals
2001	3rd, Central	Quarterfinals	Round of 32
2002	3rd, West	Quarterfinals	Semifinals
2003	5th, West	''Did not qualify''	Round of 16
2004	5th, West	''Did not qualify''	Quarterfinals
2005	2nd, West	Quarterfinals	Final
2006	1st, West	Quarterfinals	Quarterfinals

Average attendance

''regular season/playoffs''

★ 1996: 16,011

★ 1997: 9,678

★ 1998: 10,948

★ 1999: 12,211

★ 2000: 13,102

★ 2001: 12,574

★ 2002: 13,112

★ 2003: 7,906/missed playoffs

★ 2004: 9,088/missed playoffs

★ 2005: 11,189/10,104

★ 2006: 14,982/15,486

★ All-Time: 11,535

International competition

★ '2004 La Manga Cup'

★
★ Group Stage v. Odd Grenland -- 1:2

★
★ Group Stage v. Dynamo Kyiv -- 2:2

★
★ Semifinals v. Stabæk -- 2:1

★
★ Fifth Place Match v. Bodø/Glimt -- 1:3

★ '2007 SuperLiga'

★
★ Group Stage v. Guadalajara (Chivas) -- 1:1

★
★ Group Stage v. Pachuca -- 1:1

★
★ Group Stage v. Los Angeles Galaxy -- 5:6

Trivia

★ From 1989 to 1991, there had been a team called FC Dallas in the minor league Lone Star Soccer Alliance.

Sources

1. FC Dallas fact sheet
2. [1]
3. FC Dallas and Tigres UANL to play for Rio Grande Plate
4. FCD to play Atletico Paranaense twice in March
5. FCD and Atlético-PR seal partnership deal
6. "Finding the Right International Partners"

External links

★ Official Website

★ 3rd Degree (un-official FC Dallas News Source)

★ Official FCD board, courtesy of BigSoccer