El Paso Patriots was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team based in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, United States. Founded in 1989, the team played in the

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

(PDL), the fourth tier of the

American Soccer Pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

, in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference. The team played its home games at the soccer-specific

Patriot Stadium Patriot Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in El Paso, Texas. It was the home stadium of the PDL club, Chivas El Paso Patriots. The stadium replaced Dudley Field FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is ...

, where they played since 2005 until 2012, when they played their last season (2013) home schedule at the SAC. The team's colors were red, navy blue and white. Prior to their stadium being completed in 2005, the Patriots played at the

Sun Bowl Stadium The Sun Bowl is an outdoor football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. It is home to the UTEP Miners of Conference USA, and the late December college football bowl game, the Sun Bowl. Th ...

on the campus of the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

, and at

Dudley Field FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a American football, football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the American South, South to be used exclusively for college foo ...

, the former home of the

El Paso Diablos "El Paso Diablos" refers to two different professional baseball teams based in El Paso, Texas, in the United States. The most recent Diablos were a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, whi ...

baseball team. They were one of the more long-serving franchises in American soccer, having previously played in the first division

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

until 2003.

History

Founded in 1989 as the El Paso Sixshooters and owned and coached by Dan Guard, the team competed in the

Southwest Indoor Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. In January 1990, the team ceased operations. The team resumed operations in the fall of 1990 as the El Paso Spurs. Before the 1991 season, the Spurs were sold to a group which included primary investor Enrique Cervantes as well as Jaime Monardes. The new ownership group renamed the team the Patriots to capitalize on the

Patriot missile The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar compon ...

's recent success in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and hired Brazilian

Marinho Chagas Francisco das Chagas Marinho (8 February 1952 – 31 May 2014), generally known as Marinho Chagas or Francisco Marinho, was a Brazilian professional footballer. One of the best left-backs of his era, he is best known for his flowing curly blon ...

as head coach. In 2003, the team played in the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

. Prior to the 2010 PDL season the Patriots signed a formal agreement with Mexican Premier Division team

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, and were officially rebranded as the Chivas El Paso Patriots. In addition to cross-promotion, sponsorship and player development, the agreement will also see the U-20, Division 1A and Division II Chivas teams playing regular games in El Paso. In 2012, the club rebranded to their original name El Paso Patriots.

Players

Notable former players

''This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.'' * Carlos Kaiser (footballer) *

Ben Everson Benjamin James Everson (born 11 February 1987) is an English footballer who plays for Dandenong City as a striker. He previously played for Norton & Stockton Ancients, Shildon, Guisborough Town, El Paso Patriots, Bradenton Academics, West Te ...

Carlos Farias Carlos "Chile" Farias (born May 15, 1976 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean soccer forward who has spent his entire professional career in the United States. Over the years, he has played in five indoor and outdoor leagues, including Major League ...

Julio Daniel Frías Julio Daniel Frías Adame (born March 29, 1979) is a former Mexican footballer who last played for the El Paso Coyotes in the Major Arena Soccer League . Frías made his professional debut with Indios in 2008. He is widely recognized in Ciuda ...

Freddy Juarez Freddy Juarez (born April 1, 1978) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach with Seattle Sounders FC. Juarez most recently was the head coach of Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer. Playing career H ...

Cesar Sosa Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * C ...

Salvador Mercado Humberto Salvador Mercado-Luján (born 25 March 1969) is a retired Mexican people, Mexican Association football, football midfielder who played professionally in Mexico and the United States. Mercado began his professional career with Cobras de ...

Dimitar Popov Dimitar Nikolaev Popov ( bg, Димитър Николаев Попов; born 27 February 1970) is a former Bulgarian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career In his career Popov played for Levski Sofia, Botev Plovdiv, Sparta ...

* Steve Sengelmann *

Dimitar Vasev Dimitar Vasev ( bg, Димитър Васев; born 10 September 1965) is a Bulgarian former football player and football manager lastly leading Septemvri Sofia. Career Playing career Born in Sofia, Dimitar Vasev played in his career for Lokomot ...

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL PDL Southern Conference Champions 2005 * USL PDL Mid South Division Champions 2005 * USL PDL Mid South Division Champions 2004 * USISL Pro League South Central Division Champions 1995 * US Open Cup Runners-Up 1995 * USISL Southwest Division Champions 1992

Head coaches

* Dan Guard (1989–1990) *

(1991–1992) * Oscar Lira (1993–1994-1995) *

Francisco Paco Chavez Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

(1996–1999) *

Greg Petersen Greg Petersen is an American soccer coach. Player Petersen attended CSU East Bay where he played as goalkeeper on the men’s soccer team. In 1984, he was named to the First Team All Conference team. Coach In 1990, Petersen became an assistan ...

(2000) * Alfredo Solares (2001 – interim) *

Carlos Bracamontes Carlos Alejandro Bracamontes Zenizo (born 4 January 1959) is a Mexican Association football, football manager and former player. References External links

* 1959 births Living people Footballers from Colima Mexican footballers People f ...

(beginning July 2, 2001) * Tita (2002) * Miguel Murillo (2002, 2008) * Fernando Gutierrez (2003) * Jesus Enriquez (2002–2003-2004–2005–2006) *

(2007) * Javier McDonald (2008 interim)

Stadium

;

(2003) *

;

(2004) * Gary Del Palacios Field (

);

(2005–2012) *

SISD Student Activities Complex The Socorro Independent School District (SISD) serves more than 47,000 students in 49 schools and is the second largest school district in El Paso, Texas. The district covers 135 square miles serving East El Paso, Horizon City and the City of Soc ...

;

(2013)

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20100105175057/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html. * 2005: 1,546 (2nd in PDL) * 2006: 867 (7th in PDL) * 2007: 789 (8th in PDL) * 2008: 1,269 * 2009: 607 * 2010: 1,069 (8th in PDL)

References

External links

Official Site
{{USSoccer Association football clubs established in 1989 Defunct Premier Development League teams Soccer clubs in Texas USISL teams Indoor soccer clubs in the United States A-League (1995–2004) teams 1989 establishments in Texas 2013 disestablishments in Texas Association football clubs disestablished in 2013