Minnesota TwinStars FC was an American soccer team playing in the Minnetonka High School Stadium,

Minnetonka, Minnesota Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 53,781. Minnetonka is th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Founded in 1997, the team plays in

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially affiliated to the Uni ...

. Prior to the 2004 season, the team was known as the St. Paul TwinStars FC. The Minnesota TwinStars FC historically had a long-standing relationship with the

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...

community in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, along with the African community in suburbs such as Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. In the early stages of the team's history, the dominant ethnic group that played on the TwinStars were Hmong, from

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and Minnesota. Midwest (now Midwest-North) division champions two times (2008 and 2009), and National Championship runner-up once (2008), in two NPSL Final Four appearances. History between the TwinStars FC and professional clubs around the world has been strong. Several players have gone on to play professionally in North America and Europe, such as Ismaila Jome, Alex Nyom, Geoffrey Myers, and Liberian international, Ansu Toure. Equatorial Guinean international, Francis Mbome arrived to the Minnesota outfit in 2010 and played with them for two years. The men's team is the senior representative of the Minnesota TwinStars Academy (TSA), which was founded in 2012. The TSA U-16 club was ranked first in Minnesota in 2014, fourth in the region, and 100 nationally in just its second year of existence.

History

Early success

TwinStars was created by Yeng Xiong in late 1997 with elite

players.

2006–2010

The TwinStars have competed for the Midwest title throughout its existence. Their first taste of success was the 2006 season, where one of their players, Igor Stosic, was named to the NPSL Midwest All-Star team. They followed up in the 2007 season, by having two of their players names on the All-Star team; Juan Fiz, and 3-time winner (two with the TwinStars) Igor Stosic. Winning their first Midwest title in 2008, having five of their players named into the Midwest All-Star team, and one of the five, Geoffrey Myers, was named as the 2008 MVP, after scoring 14 goals and five assists in only 12 appearances. Following their triumph in regional competition, the club played in the NPSL Final Four in New York, where they were runners-up in the National tournament. TwinStars FC won the Midwest title again in 2009, this time having four players named to the Midwest All-Star team. Once again having the league MVP, this time being the 5-time All-Star, Igor Stosic, becoming the most decorated TwinStars FC player in history. The 2010 season saw the arrival of Equatorial Guinean international Francis Mbome. The TwinStars placed third of six teams in the Midwest division, having an overall record of 5–3–2. For the third season in a row, they had produced the league MVP, this time being former Liberian national team player Richard Kamara.

Developing years

2011–2013

The 2013 season saw many players from the youth sides advance into the senior team. Seven of the players who regularly started games for the TwinStars were in high school; all coming from Prairie Seeds Academy.

Crest and colors

The club crest has been changed several times, usually featuring a dragon, with two stars above a red and black shield. The current crest, featuring a red dragon in front of the black half of the shield, and a black dragon on the red half of the shield, both clutching a soccer ball with two golden stars (hence the name "TwinStars") above them, is a modified version of one of the first crests, used in 2005.

Stadiums

* James Griffin Stadium; St. Paul, Minnesota (2005–2006) * Macalester Stadium at

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

; St. Paul, Minnesota (2007–2009) * Edor Nelson Field at

Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...

; Minneapolis, Minnesota (2010) * Prairie Seeds Academy;

Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Brooklyn Park is a suburban city on the west bank of the Mississippi River, upstream from (north of) downtown Minneapolis in northern Hennepin County. It is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 86,478 at t ...

(2011–2013) * Mound-Westonka High School;

Mound, Minnesota Mound is a city in western Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,052 at the 2010 census. Mound was the birthplace of the Tonka truck that is named after Lake Minnetonka, which the eastern part of town sits on. Mound i ...

(2014–2015) *

Hopkins High School Hopkins High School is a public high school located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States. Minnetonka is a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. It offers classes for grades 10, 11, and 12, making it one of the only schools in the state still wi ...

;

(2016) *

Minnetonka High School Minnetonka High School, or MHS (locally referred to as Tonka), is a four-year public high school located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States, a western suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The school enrolls about 3,444 students, and offers four ...

;

(2017–present)

Statistics and records

All-Star Team Players

Africa

* Jules Alex Nyom (2009) * Ansu Toure (2006) * Geoffrey Myers (2008) * Richard Kamara (2008, 2009, 2010) * Adama Diawara (2008, 2009, 2010)

Europe

* Igor Stosic (2005 ith_Minnesota_Blast.html" ;"title="Minnesota_Blast.html" ;"title="ith Minnesota Blast">ith Minnesota Blast">Minnesota_Blast.html" ;"title="ith Minnesota Blast">ith Minnesota Blast 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

South America

* Juan Fiz (2007, 2008)

Club MVPs

*2008 Geoffrey Myers *2009 Igor Stosic *2010 Richard Kamara

Players

First-team Squad

''as of 26 April 2015''

Captains

* Juan Fiz (2006–2007) * Richard Kamara (2008–2011) * Adama Diawara (2012) * Martin Browne (2013–2014) * Karim Darbaki (2014–present)

Current technical staff

''as of 28 April 2015''

Seasonal statistics

Managers

* Youssef Darbaki (2005–present)

Honors

Domestic

**Midwest Conference: 2008, 2009 **National Final Four: Runner-up (2008)

References

External links

{{Minnesota Sports National Premier Soccer League teams Sports in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Soccer clubs in Minnesota 1997 establishments in Minnesota Association football clubs established in 1997