The 2025 season is FC Dallas and MLS’s 30th campaign since the league was introduced in 1996. As one of the league’s original clubs, FC Dallas will honor its 30th season by looking back at 30 top moments from the past three decades.
Together, we’ll review five top moments in the following six categories: goals, landmark moments, rivalry moments, community moments, players and kits. We will release the five moments from a new category once a month from March to August, and fans will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite.
In March, we reviewed five of the best goals in club history HERE. This month, we’ll look back at five landmark moments from the club’s first 30 years: The first game in franchise history in 1996, the 1997 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup triumph, the opening of Toyota Stadium in 2005, the 2016 Supporters’ Shield and Open Cup double, and finally the Toyota Stadium renovation announcement in 2024.
Top Moments in FC Dallas History
FC Dallas celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. Vote on your favorite moments at fcdallas.com/30
The Inaugural Game | 1996
Fittingly, we’ll begin with club’s first-ever game back on April 14, 1996. The city had been without professional outdoor soccer since the Dallas Tornado of the North American Soccer League (NASL) folded in 1981. The long wait meant the Dallas Burn’s debut garnered significant local interest and 27,779 fans gathered in the Cotton Bowl to see the birth of their new franchise. The club faced the San Jose Clash in the inaugural match and played to a 0-0 draw over 90 minutes. Thanks to MLS’s modified rules at the time, the game didn’t end there. Instead, it went to hockey-style shootouts to decide the winner. Dallas native Mark Dodd, who was later named the 1996 Goalkeeper of the Year, was the hero for the Burn as he saved four San Jose shootout attempts to give the home team a victory on its marquee day. While it was just one game, that dramatic win in front of an impressive crowd helped lend the new club and new league legitimacy from the very start.
“(That game) a lot of us let ourselves dream a little bit, to look beyond the activities and excitement of the day. Because a lot of us were hoping and excited about what it could all become.” –Steve Davis, Lead Soccer Writer for the Dallas Morning News in 1996 and current FC Dallas Radio Analyst
U.S. Open Cup Title | 1997
It didn’t take the Dallas Burn very long to capture its first major trophy. Eighteen months after debuting at the Cotton Bowl, the Burn won the 1997 U.S. Open Cup (which later adopted the name Lamar Hunt, one of MLS’s founders who’d go on to own the Dallas Burn/FC Dallas). Dallas were the underdogs heading into the final as their opponent, D.C. United, were the defending champions and had just repeated as MLS Cup champions three days prior. Dallas and D.C. met at Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis and played to a 0-0 draw after extra time meaning the game would be decided by traditional penalty kicks. With Mark Dodd protecting their goal, the Burn converted all five of their attempts while D.C.’s Raúl Díaz Arce sent his high over the crossbar to give Dallas and head coach Dave Dir their first silverware. That triumph in 1997 was the beginning of Dallas’ long affinity with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Toyota Stadium Opening Day | 2005
The 2005 season saw FC Dallas (who rebranded from original name Dallas Burn earlier that year) open a home of their own. Toyota Stadium – then known as Pizza Hut Park – opened its doors for the first time on August 6, 2005 for a game between FC Dallas and the NY/NJ MetroStars (now the NY Red Bulls). The new stadium in Frisco, Texas was part of an $80 million construction project that included the surrounding training field complex now known as Toyota Soccer Center. The new venue was MLS’s third-specific soccer stadium and the second built by the Hunt family (who constructed the league’s original one for the Columbus Crew in 1999). Although the stadium still needed its finishing touches, 15,000 fans gathered in Frisco to see FC Dallas earn a 2-2 draw with the MetroStars to officially start a new era for the club. Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz scored both goals for the home side, cementing a legacy that included scoring the first goal at the LA Galaxy’s soccer-specific stadium two years before.
Supporters’ Shield and Open Cup Double | 2016
The 2016 season, by most measures, was the greatest in FC Dallas history. The club won both the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and MLS Supporters’ Shield – the trophy awarded for the best record over MLS's regular season. Led by head coach Oscar Pareja, Dallas reached the Open Cup final after defeating MLS rivals Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy in the previous rounds to set up a home final against the New England Revolution. In front of a sold-out crowd at Toyota Stadium, FCD captured their second-ever Open Cup in a dramatic 4-2 comeback win over the the Revolution on Sept. 13. One month later, the club sealed the best regular season record (17 wins, 8 losses and 9 ties) with a scoreless tie away to the LA Galaxy to earn FCD’s first and only MLS Supporters’ Shield. That 2016 cup double made FC Dallas one of just three teams to have achieved the rare feat along with the 2003 Chicago Fire and 2014 Seattle Sounders.
Toyota Stadium Renovation | 2024
For our final landmark moment, we’ll look to the club's future. In September of 2024, FC Dallas announced plans to renovate home ground Toyota Stadium in a $182 million private-public partnership between the Hunt family and the city of Frisco. The stadium originally opened in 2005 as MLS’s third soccer-specific stadium, helping pave the way for the influx of soccer-specific venues around the country. Now, 20 years after its introduction, the stadium will see a major facelift that includes a roof canopy, increased seating capacity, increased club and suite spaces, more concession and bathrooms, as well as the largest video board in any MLS-specific stadium. Construction is now underway and will take place in phases beginning with the east side followed by the north and west sides (FCD will continue to play home matches during the stadium’s construction at reduced capacity). The new Toyota Stadium is set to open fully in 2028 and will usher in a new for FC Dallas.
Top Moments in FC Dallas History
FC Dallas celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. Vote on your favorite moments at fcdallas.com/30
