15-year-old Ricardo Pepi signed as club’s first player
DALLAS - North Texas Soccer Club, FC Dallas’ USL League One club, announced its team name, logo and colors at an event today in Dallas. FC Dallas President Dan Hunt along with newly-named North Texas SC General Manager Matt Denny also announced the team’s first player signing, 15-year-old forward Ricardo Pepi, pending league and U.S. Soccer Federation approval.
“North Texas Soccer Club represents the bridge between our outstanding Academy system and FC Dallas,” said Hunt. “It will give our players who wouldn’t normally receive First Team minutes an opportunity to earn valuable playing time.”
Pepi has 19 goals in eight appearances for the FC Dallas U-17 Academy team this season. He joined the FCD Academy in 2016 from the club’s youth affiliate in his hometown of El Paso, TX. Eligible for both the U.S. and Mexico National Teams, he recently appeared three times as the youngest member of the U.S. U-17 National Team at the 2018 Nike Friendlies, scoring the game-winner in a 1-0 result over Turkey.
He is the 26th Academy-product signed to a professional contract by the FC Dallas organization
“It’s exciting that Ricardo Pepi is our first signing for North Texas SC,” said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt. “This is a player with an incredible nose for the goal and someone who does the right things, loves this club and was willing and able to commit his future to us. One day we want to see him scoring goals for the first team at FC Dallas but hopefully along the way here he scores a lot of goals for North Texas SC.”
North Texas’ rich soccer history is reflected in the North Texas Soccer Club logo and branding. The inner circle unites FC Dallas’ soccer development system with the gray and blue colors representing the Academy, USL and MLS. The outer circle represents the entire region and the hope that it will rally around the USL franchise.
“We chose the name North Texas Soccer Club because we are a club that represents the entire soccer community in North Texas,” said Denny. “While we’ll play the majority of our games in 2019 at Toyota Stadium, we’ll also look for opportunities to play select games at locations throughout Dallas/Fort Worth.”
Additional elements of FC Dallas branding are reflected in the NTSC logo including:
- The Shield: Inspiration came from the shape of the FC Dallas shield which serves as a focal point to bridge the USL and MLS teams together.
- The Stripe: The gray stripe is used to unify our soccer development system and impart a sense of continuous growth.
- The Stars: The star is carried over from the bull in the FC Dallas logo and serves to represent the tie between the teams.
- The Colors: The colors pay homage to the ones represented in the FC Dallas logo as well as the Texas state flag.
Fans can learn more about Dallas/Fort Worth’s newest sports franchise atNorthTexasSC.com and on social media: Twitter, Facebook andInstagram.
