History:
In 1995, when the MLS was introduced in America following the ’94 FIFA World Cup, numerous cities were scouted as potential franchise venues. Along with Colorado and Kansas City, Dallas was chosen as a franchise city to round off the initial playing pool to ten teams. The team was originally known as the Dallas Burn, and the team’s colors (black and red) and logo (a horse breathing fire) were unveiled at an elaborate ceremony on 17th October, 1995. The famous Cotton Bowl Stadium was adopted as the team’s first home stadium.
In 2002, the league owned team was bought by the Lamar Hunt family who took over operating rights. In 2004, at the end of the season, the club’s name was officially changed to FC Dallas and a new logo and new uniforms were released as part of the club’s rebranding. The new logo featured the drawing of a bull and the new club colors of red, white and blue. In 2005 the team moved to their new stadium, the Toyota Stadium, a twenty thousand seat capacity venue built specifically to stage soccer games.
Soccer Journey:
The team competed in the first season of the MLS in 1996 and made it to the playoffs with a 17-15 record. They were however defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the Kansas City Wiz, who beat them in a closely contested three game series.
The team came back more strongly in their second season in the league and made it to the playoffs for a second season running. This time they progressed to the second round of the playoffs by sweeping aside the LA Galaxy in the first round without conceding a goal. However the club was defeated in the second round by the Colorado Rapids, who overcame strong resistance from the Burn to knock them out of the competition. There was however a silver lining for the club that season, as they won their first every trophy, the 1997 U.S. Open Cup.
Building on their Cup success, the team looked to do better in the league and started the next season with high hopes of a strong finish. However, they were eliminated in the first round of the play offs by the LA Galaxy. The 1999 season was very successful for the team as they negotiated a tricky playoff schedule and made it all the way to their first ever conference final. Only one game away from the MLS Cup game they were eliminated by the LA Galaxy, who would go on to win the cup.
The start of the FC Dallas era was not such a bright one, as the team would not make it to playoffs half the time or would bow out in the early stages of the playoffs. That is until the 2010-2011 season, when the team put forward a remarkably strong performance all season, losing just four games. The team made it past the playoff stage with ease and reached its first ever MLS Cup game. They faced the Colorado Rapids in the championship game but lost out narrowly on the title after a 2-1 defeat in extra time.
So close to lifting the trophy, FC Dallas faced a heart breaking loss that they have to overcome to actually go that one extra step to become soccer champions of America. FC Dallas tickets will allow you to catch the live action from the team’s home and away games as they continue on their quest to finally win the elusive MLS title.