By Michael Church
DALLAS, July 12 (Reuters) – When Mauricio Pochettino named the U.S. squad for the World Cup, no club played a greater role in developing the players who would represent the tournament co-hosts than FC Dallas.
In Weston McKennie, Chris Richards, Ricardo Pepi and Alejandro Zendejas, the Frisco-based outfit produced a quartet that underlined the organisation’s reputation as the leading talent factory in Major League Soccer.
“We’re a big believer in domestic talent,” FC Dallas president Dan Hunt tells Reuters. “And we want to try to help not only FC Dallas win, but the national teams win.
“Because without a strong national team, I really think it hurts the domestic league too. So we stay true to who we are.”
All four players featured during the U.S.’ run to the last 16 but it is Dallas’ status as the venue that hosted the largest number of World Cup matches across the tournament’s 16 venues that points to the potential of an even brighter future.
Dallas Stadium will host its ninth and last World Cup match on Tuesday when France face Spain in the tournament’s first semi-final, bringing an end to more than four weeks of festivities.
“We’re so thankful that we had nine games and we’ve had unbelievable matches here,” says Hunt, who also served as co-chair of the North Texas World Cup organising committee.
“I mean, that England-Croatia game. Japan twice was amazing here. Argentina twice. Even having Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup game. I mean, these are just amazing things.”
The Hunt family have been integral to the sport, both in the region and nationally, since Dan’s father Lamar founded the Dallas Tornado in 1967.
A year later the team were one of the original members of the North American Soccer League, continuing in that competition until it folded in 1981.
DEEP ROOTS
The Tornado’s deep roots and the ongoing investment in youth football through the existing MLS outfit, believes Hunt, are among the key reasons why the Dallas area consistently produces the country’s best players.
“Sports are a big deal in Texas,” he said. “Families are willing to invest, spend the time and effort to do it. We have the climate for it too, even though it gets hot.
“The reason why this is such a great youth soccer market goes all the way back to the Dallas Tornado, because a bunch of those players stayed after their days were done, started youth clubs.
“There are both boys and girls who coached at the local high schools or did camps and clinics.
“And so you have this huge ecosystem of teams where the games are so competitive all the time and they’re always fighting and they push each other to be so much better.”
Hunt is confident the system that produced McKennie and company has received a further boost from hosting the World Cup and can continue to develop players at all levels.
FC Dallas experienced growth in their youth teams by around 10% in 2025 with a further uptick of at least 7% expected this year as the impact of the World Cup drives interest in the sport.
The hosting of the tournament also led to work starting on the redevelopment of the club’s Toyota Stadium, which was used as a training base by Sweden.
“You hope that this inspires the American Messi,” says Hunt.
“You hope this inspires a kid that might not have picked soccer, who’s this special athlete and has a special brain for the game to come play and hopefully play here at FC Dallas or at MLS teams, and we develop players like this.
“We keep developing more and more top talent here. I’m so excited about our next generation of young players.
“Really, the only thing that limits us is fields. We have, one way or another, between 40 and 55 fields under management. I could build another 100 and I could fill every single ground.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ed Osmond)
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