Atlético Dallas is a planned American men's professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in the Greater Dallas area. Founded in 2024, the team plans to make its debut in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

in 2027.

History

On November 19, 2024, the USL awarded an expansion team to the city of

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located within Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County with portions extending into Collin County, Texas, Collin and Rockwall County, Texas, Rockwall counties. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a ...

. The ownership group consists of Matt Valentine, Sam Morton, Luther Ott and Dan McAlone, the group having previously attempted to purchase USL Championship club

Las Vegas Lights FC Las Vegas Lights FC is an American professional soccer team based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that plays in the USL Championship. The team made its debut in 2018 and plays its home games at Cashman Field. The team employs neon imagery in its crest a ...

to relocate to Dallas, but having been denied by league officials. In partnership with Renegades Soccer Club, a local youth soccer academy, USL Dallas on April 10, 2025, established their youth academy system. On May 2, 2025, the club revealed its name and logo, with the name inspired by

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

Stadium

Cotton Bowl

Atlético Dallas will play in the Cotton Bowl, a 92,100-capacity stadium in Dallas, on the site of the State Fair of Texas. They will share the stadium with fellow

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

club

Dallas Trinity FC Dallas Trinity FC is an American professional Women's association football, women's soccer club based in Dallas, Texas, that competes in the USL Super League (USLS). History Establishment A team representing the Dallas–Fort Worth metropl ...

, a women's professional soccer club that competes in the

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

, and will be the third professional men's soccer club to play in the Cotton Bowl, following the NASL's

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. T ...

and the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

. From their inaugural season, the club will start a three-year lease in the stadium, ending in 2029. In addition with the lease, the City of Dallas will also lease off the MoneyGram Soccer Complex in Northwest Dallas to Atlético Dallas for further club use, which will break the lease the city previously had with FC Dallas ownership earlier than expected. The move, which was unanimously approved by city council, was cited to have been made due to the previous contract losing the city millions of dollars due to lackluster revenue streams and high utility costs.

Proposed Garland stadium

Following the announcement, a site in Garland was identified by USL Dallas as a site to place a soccer complex, where they would create a complex that would a 10,000 seat soccer stadium. Although plans to play matches in the Cotton Bowl have caused the planned stadium to be downsized to 2,000 seats, the additional parts of the proposed soccer complex are still in development, which includes eight soccer fields and a multipurpose building, with potential to follow with mixed development on the site. The complex, in addition to hosting the men's professional team practice facility, will also be the home for the club's youth academy.

Colors and badge

The crest is a black shield containing a

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

, representing speed and danger, battling a

Mexican wolf The Mexican wolf (''Canis lupus baileyi''), also known as the ''lobo mexicano'' (or, simply, ''lobo'') is a subspecies of gray wolf (''C. lupus'') native to eastern and southeastern Arizona and western and southern New Mexico (in the United Sta ...

, representing cunning and teamwork. The club's colors are described as Blackland Crude, Texas Topaz, and Silver Ore.

References

External links

Official website
of Atlético Dallas USL Championship teams 2024 establishments in Texas Association football clubs established in 2024 Garland, Texas Soccer clubs in Dallas Sports in Dallas County, Texas {{Texas-footyclub-stub