Dallas

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. The team was given its name for the burning in the Texan oilfields and the state's hot weather. On October 17, former Mexico international Hugo Sánchez was designated to the team as their first player. Initially not attracting investors, the Burn was financed by the league itself.

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. Five days later, Jason Kreis scored the team's first goal in a 3–0 home win over the Wiz. 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. Their first campaign in the U.S. Open Cup ended with a 2–3 home defeat in the semi-finals against D.C. United. 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 the 2004 season, Clarke was named the permanent coach and the team returned to the Cotton Bowl, 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.