D.C. United
Also written as DC United.
The club
D.C. United were one of the ten original clubs of Major League Soccer, playing in the league since its first season in 1996. The club is not Washington Spirit, the National Women's Soccer League side based in the Washington area, a separate club in a separate league. D.C. United is also distinct from Loudoun United FC, the USL Championship club based in Leesburg, Virginia: Loudoun United was founded on 18 July 2018 as D.C. United's reserve team and debuted in the USL Championship in 2019, but on 2 February 2023 majority ownership passed to Attain Sports and Entertainment, and Loudoun ceased to be D.C. United's reserve side once MLS moved its reserve teams into MLS Next Pro; D.C. United retains only a minority stake in Loudoun United.
D.C. United played home matches at RFK Stadium in Washington from their inaugural 1996 season until the end of the 2017 season. They moved into Audi Field, a soccer-specific stadium at Buzzard Point in Southwest Washington with a capacity of 20,000, for its first match on 14 July 2018 against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
The head coach for the 2026 season is René Weiler, in his first full season in charge of the club.
Recent seasons
D.C. United missed the playoffs on the final day of the 2021 season, then finished bottom of the overall MLS table in 2022. They finished on 40 points in both 2023 and 2024, missing the 2024 playoffs on goal difference, and 2025 ended in a last-place finish. As of 23 August 2026 the club sit 11th in the Eastern Conference and 19th overall with five wins, seven losses and nine draws from 21 matches for 24 points, having scored 28 goals and conceded 36; they did not qualify for the 2026 Leagues Cup and reached the round of 16 of the 2026 US Open Cup.
Honours and landmarks
D.C. United are the most decorated club of MLS's early years. They won the MLS Cup four times: 3-2 after overtime against Los Angeles Galaxy on 20 October 1996 at Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts, a match played in heavy rain from the approach of Hurricane Lili in which Los Angeles led 2-0 before D.C. United forced extra time and Eddie Pope scored a golden goal in the 94th minute; again in 1997; 3-2 again over Kansas City Wizards on 14 November 2004 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, with Alecko Eskandarian scoring twice and winning MVP honours, Dema Kovalenko sent off for the first red card in MLS Cup history, and 15-year-old substitute Freddy Adu becoming the youngest member of an American professional championship team in modern sports history; the exact score and details of the 1999 final were not established from the sources read here. They also won the Supporters' Shield four times, in 1997, 2004, 2006 and 2007, and the US Open Cup three times, beating Rochester Raging Rhinos in 1996, winning again in 2008, and beating Real Salt Lake in the 2013 final, their third and, as of the sources read here, most recent major domestic honour; the exact scores of the 2008 and 2013 finals were not established from the sources read here.
D.C. United also won the 1998 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, beating Mexican side Toluca 1-0 in a final played in Washington on 16 August 1998, with the only goal scored by Pope. Later that year they won the 1998 Copa Interamericana, known in English as the Interamerican Cup, against the Brazilian club Vasco da Gama: a 0-1 first-leg defeat at RFK Stadium on 14 November 1998 in front of 26,216 was overturned by a 2-0 win in the away leg at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on 5 December 1998, D.C. United winning 2-1 on aggregate to become the only American club to have won the competition, and, with the Champions' Cup already secured, the first American club to win a CONCACAF club championship.
Notable scorelines
In the 2026 season D.C. United's heaviest defeat was 0-4 at home to FC Dallas on 4 April, and their biggest win was 2-0 at home to New York City FC on 3 May. Their away match at Inter Miami on 7 March 2026, lost 1-2, drew an attendance of 72,026. The club's all-time record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
D.C. United's principal rivalry is with New York Red Bulls, formerly the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, the two clubs competing annually for the Atlantic Cup. The club also has a documented rivalry with New England Revolution, and a newer rivalry with Philadelphia Union, the two cities separated by only about 120 miles. Away from MLS opponents, D.C. United and the USL club Charleston Battery contest the Coffee Pot Cup whenever they meet. Historical head-to-head records in any of these series were not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
René Weiler is in his first full season as head coach. D.C. United made significant additions in 2026, signing the forward Tai Baribo from Philadelphia Union for 4 million dollars, the forward Louis Munteanu from CFR Cluj for 7 million dollars, the goalkeeper Sean Johnson on a free transfer from Toronto FC, the defender Silvan Hefti from Hamburger SV and the defender Keisuke Kurokawa on a free transfer from Gamba Osaka. Outgoing, the club declined its option on Christian Benteke, sold Gabriel Pirani to San Diego FC for 350,000 dollars in general allocation money, and sent Jacob Murrell to Falkirk.
Wayne Rooney had two spells with the club before Weiler's appointment. As a player he signed on 28 June 2018 on a three-and-a-half-year contract, made his debut in a 3-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps on 14 July 2018, and scored 23 goals and provided 15 assists in 48 regular-season appearances, 25 goals in 52 appearances in all competitions; he was D.C. United's most valuable player and top scorer for 2018 with 12 goals in 21 matches, was MLS Player of the Month for October 2018, scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Real Salt Lake on 16 March 2019, passed 300 career club goals during the 2019 season, and scored a goal from inside his own half against Orlando City on 27 June 2019. His last match for the club was a 1-5 playoff defeat to Toronto FC on 19 October 2019, after which he returned to England as a player-coach at Derby County. Rooney was appointed D.C. United head coach in July 2022 and was dismissed after the 2023 season, when improvement on the previous year was not enough to reach the playoffs; his exact win-draw-loss record as head coach was not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._United https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_D.C._United_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_CONCACAF_Champions%27_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Copa_Interamericana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_MLS_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_MLS_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_U.S._Open_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Rooney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudoun_United_FC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_D.C._United_season
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.