The Houston Dash is a professional

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

team based in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. It joined the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

(NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC.

History

Establishment

On November 19, 2013, the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

began talks in the initial stages with the intention of bringing a top flight women's professional soccer franchise to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

. Just a week later, the effort was bolstered when the Dynamo began accepting refundable deposits for a potential NWSL expansion team. On December 11, 2013, the National Women's Soccer League awarded the Houston Dynamo and the city of Houston an expansion franchise.

Team name, crest, and colors

During a press conference on December 12, 2013, Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti announced that the club would be named the Houston Dash and would share similar colors to the Dynamo: orange, black, and sky blue. The crest features a soccer ball along with the words "Houston Dash" with sky blue lines in the background. The name Dash refers to the fast running speed of a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

, which was a historical mode of transportation for Texans in the 1800s.

Ownership and team management

Houston Dash is owned by the same ownership group as the Dynamo, including majority owner Ted Segal, and minority owners Gabriel Brener, Ben Guill, multiple World and Olympic

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion Oscar De La Hoya, and former NBA MVP

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Harden is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in N ...

. On December 23, 2013, Former Houston Dynamo player

Brian Ching Brian Ching (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional soccer player who played for twelve years in Major League Soccer and represented the U.S. national team for eight years. Ching's professional career began when he was the 16th ...

was named Managing Director, in charge of day-to-day duties on both the business and technical sides of under the supervision of Houston Dash and Dynamo team president Chris Canetti. On January 3, 2014,

Randy Waldrum Randy Marlon Waldrum (born September 25, 1956) is an American former professional soccer player, the current head coach of University of Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer team and is the current head coach of the Nigeria women's national team ...

was named as the Dash's first head coach, having previously coached the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer team represents the University of Notre Dame in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women's soccer. The team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference and is currently coached by Nate ...

team to two national titles since joining the team in 1999. On May 29, 2017, Waldrum and Houston Dash agreed to part ways. Assistant coach Omar Morales was named interim coach. On November 27, 2017,

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch football coach and former player. She currently manages the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has managed several national women's football teams, including Scotland, Netherlands ...

was hired as the new head coach. On September 20, 2018, Pauw departed from the club. On December 11, 2018, James Clarkson was hired as the new head coach. On February 2, 2022, the Dash announced the hiring of

Jessica O'Neill Jessica may refer to: Given name * Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica * Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the m ...

as the team's first president, a role tasked with increasing revenue and serving as the team's spokesperson to the NWSL on league matters. On April 26, 2022, the NWSL and NWSLPA recommended coach James Clarkson should be suspended while they conducted "an investigation into alleged violations of the NWSL Policy to Prevent and Eliminate Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying". On April 27, 2022, the Houston Dash announced that it was immediately suspending James Clarkson pending the conclusion of the joint investigation by the NWSL and NWSLPA that was launched in 2021. On April 29, 2022, the Houston Dash announced that Sarah Lowdon would serve as the acting head coach while the club conducted its search for an interim head coach. On June 15, 2022, the Dash named former

Real Betis Féminas Real Betis Balompié Féminas is the women's football club of Real Betis. Based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain, the club competes in the Liga F, the top league in Spain. Home matches are played at Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol. History The wome ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

coach Juan Carlos Amorós as its interim head coach. Lowdon continued as acting head coach pending Amorós's visa approval. On August 25, 2022, the Dash announced that majority owner Ted Segal bought out the stakes of minority owners Gabriel Brener, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ben Guill. On December 14, 2022, the Dash released a public statement declaring the club would not renew the contract with James Clarkson, which had an expiration date of the end of 2022, after reports concluded that his "actions constituted emotional misconduct."

Sam Laity Sam James Laity (born 3 July 1976) is an English football manager who is currently the head coach of Houston Dash in the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). He was previously an assistant coach for fellow American team OL Reign O ...

was hired as the next head coach on December 21, 2022. BBVA Compass Stadium, North Facade

Stadium

The Dash play their games at PNC Stadium, formerly known as BBVA Stadium, which opened in May 2012, and features a 22,039-seat capacity. For the team's inaugural season, 7,000 seats in the lower seating bowl are available for home games. When the stadium opened in 2012, it became the first soccer-specific stadium in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

located in a city's downtown district.

Players and staff

Current squad

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Staff

{, class="wikitable" , - ! style="background:#F75010; color:#000000;" scope="col" colspan="2", Executive , - , - , - , - , - ! style="background:#F75010; color:#000000;" scope="col" colspan="2", Technical , - , - , - , - , - , -

Head coach history

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, January 3, 2014 – May 29, 2017 , - , Omar Morales (interim) , May 29, 2017 – November 27, 2017 , - ,

, November 27, 2017 – September 20, 2018 , - , James Clarkson , December 11, 2018 – April 26, 2022 , - , Sarah Lowdon (acting) , April 29, 2022 – July 12, 2022 , - , Juan Carlos Amorós (interim) , July 12, 2022 – October 28, 2022 , - ,

, December 21, 2022 –

Seasons

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Playoffs , - ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, 24, , 5, , 16, , 3, , 23, , 44, , 18 , 9th , DNQ , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, 20, , 6, , 8, , 6, , 21, , 26, , 24 , 5th , DNQ , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, 20, , 6, , 10, , 4, , 29, , 29, , 22 , 8th , DNQ , - ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, 24, , 7, , 14, , 3, , 23, , 39, , 24 , 8th , DNQ , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, 24, , 9, , 10, , 5, , 35, , 39, , 32 , 6th , DNQ , - ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 24, , 7, , 12, , 5, , 21, , 36, , 26 , 7th , DNQ , - , 2020 , colspan=9, NWSL season not contested , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, 24, , 9, , 10, , 5, , 21, , 31, , 32 , 7th , DNQ , - , 2022 , 22, , 10, , 6, , 6, , 35, , 27, , 36 , 4th , First Round DNQ = Did not qualify

Honors

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. Th ...

** Winners: 2020 * NWSL Community Shield ** Runners-up: 2020

Broadcasting

During the 2014 season, games were broadcast locally on CSN TV in Houston. It was the second local television broadcast agreement in the NWSL's history. On August 6, 2014, DirecTV and AT&T proposed a reorganization plan, in which it would acquire CSN Houston in a 60/40 joint venture. At the time, AT&T was in the process of acquiring DirecTV, pending regulatory approval. The reorganization offer was approved by the court on October 30, 2014, although Comcast appealed the decision in order to address a $100 million loan that had been given to the network. Attorneys from the companies involved reached an agreement to allow the deal to continue through Comcast's appeals process. The Rockets' general counsel Rafael Stone stated that the approval gave a "clear path" for the network to return to full-time service in November, and transition to DirecTV's

Root Sports AT&T Sports Networks, LLC (ATTSN) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States that primarily own and operate AT&T Sports Networks (founded in 2009, as Liberty Sports Holdings, later DirecTV Sports Networks, LLC). It is owned by W ...

brand, and the network subsequently cancelled all of its existing studio shows on October 22, 2014. Select Houston Dash matches continued to be aired on Root Sports through the 2015 and 2016 seasons. As of the 2017 season, Dash games were streamed exclusively by Go90 for American audiences and via the NWSL website for international viewers. As part of a three-year agreement with

A&E Networks A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company ...

, Lifetime broadcasts one ''NWSL Game of the Week'' on Saturday afternoons. For the 2017 season, the Dash were featured in five nationally broadcast Lifetime ''NWSL Game of the Week'' broadcasts on May 6, May 3, and September 23, 2017. In July 2022, the club announced plans to broadcast matches locally on

AT&T SportsNet Southwest AT&T SportsNet Southwest is an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks. It is the only AT&T SportsNet regional network that does not maintain a prog ...

, the team's first local agreement since 2016.

References

External links

* {{US Women's soccer 2013 establishments in Texas Association football clubs established in 2013 Soccer clubs in Texas

Dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...