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. Initially not attracting investors, the Burn was financed by the league itself. in July 1998 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. 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 semi-finals to the Wiz after three games, the last one being decided by a shootout. 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. They were also eliminated in the second round of the
2001 U.S. Open Cup by the
Seattle Sounders Select, an amateur team from the third-tier
Premier Development League. The 2002 season ended with a third-place finish in the West and overall for Dallas, along with an early playoffs exit to the
Colorado Rapids. 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 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.
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 semi-finals 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 semi-finals 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 development 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. They were the last of the surviving original MLS clubs to appear in the MLS Cup final. 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. in a match against Colorado, 2007 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. coached Dallas to the
U.S. Open Cup and
Supporters' Shield in 2016 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 semi-finals, only to fall to the
Portland Timbers in the Western Conference finals. In
2016, Dallas won the U.S. Open Cup with a
4–2 final win over New England on September 13, ending a 19-year trophy drought. The club ended the
regular season with the
Supporters' Shield for best record for the first time, but fell to Seattle in the Western Conference semi-finals, 4–2 on aggregate. In the
2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League, Dallas lost 4–3 on aggregate to eventual champions
Pachuca after an added-time goal by
Hirving Lozano. Dallas lost in the first round of the
2018 MLS Cup playoffs to Portland, and in the round of 16 of the
year's CONCACAF Champions League to
Tauro of Panama, on the
away goals rule. Pareja then left for
Tijuana. Academy director
Luchi Gonzalez succeeded Pareja as head coach. He and the players he had brought through the academy were known as the "Luchi Gang". His first two seasons led to playoff qualification and elimination by Seattle, including a 1–0 loss away in the Western Conference semi-finals in
2020, and he was fired in September 2021 with the club struggling to qualify again. His first season saw the club finish third in the regular season, before a 2–1 Western Conference semi-final loss to fellow Texans
Austin FC. His team made the playoffs again in 2023, and he was fired in June 2024 with a 3–8–5 start to the season. == Colors and badge ==