San Diego FC
Also written as San Diego.
The club
San Diego FC were announced as Major League Soccer's 30th franchise on 18 May 2023 and began play in the 2025 season. The ownership group is led by the British-Egyptian businessman Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe whose involvement made it the first Native American tribe to own part of a professional soccer team in the United States. The group paid a reported 500 million dollar expansion fee. Additional stakeholders include the San Diego Padres infielder Manny Machado, the developer Brad Termini, the footballer Juan Mata, who joined the ownership group in November 2024, and the musician Tems, who joined in February 2025.
The club plays at Snapdragon Stadium on the San Diego State University Mission Valley campus, an outdoor venue that opened in 2022 with a capacity of 35,000. San Diego FC pay around 200,000 dollars per match under their lease with San Diego State University and the stadium carries Qualcomm naming rights worth 1.75 million dollars a year to the university. The club's colours are described as chrome and azul (blue), and the crest, known as "The Flow," features 18 lines representing San Diego County's 18 cities; it drew a generally negative initial reaction online when it leaked before launch. The kit manufacturer is Adidas, with DirecTV as the primary jersey sponsor since July 2024 and Adriana's Insurance as sleeve sponsor since November 2025.
San Diego FC have a youth development partnership with the Right to Dream Academy, which also has facilities in Ghana, Egypt and Denmark, and a sister-club relationship with FC Nordsjaelland of Denmark, another club under the Mansour Group umbrella. The club also announced a five-year partnership with Liga MX side Club Tijuana in May 2024 that includes annual friendly matches. The head coach is Mikey Varas, appointed in September 2024 after previously serving as interim head coach of the United States men's national team; the general manager is Tyler Heaps and the club's first CEO was Tom Penn, formerly president of LAFC.
San Diego FC (est. 2025) should not be confused with earlier San Diego soccer sides that have no connection to the current MLS club: the San Diego Toros of the NASL (1968), the San Diego Jaws of the NASL (1976-77), the San Diego Sockers, who played outdoor and indoor variants of the club between 1978 and 2009, the San Diego Flash, and San Diego 1904 FC, a lower-division club. None of these is the current MLS franchise.
Recent seasons
In their inaugural 2025 MLS season San Diego FC finished first in the Western Conference with a record of 19 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats from 34 matches, 63 points, which was reported as an MLS record for an expansion team. They scored 64 goals and conceded 41, a goal difference of plus 23. Their home record was 12 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats, and their away record was 7 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats. Anders Dreyer was the club's top scorer with 19 league goals, 23 in all competitions, and was named MLS Newcomer of the Year and a finalist for the league's MVP award. In the playoffs San Diego FC beat the Portland Timbers, winning game one 2-1 on 26 October 2025 and closing out the series with a 4-0 win in game three, before losing 3-1 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Western Conference final.
In the 2026 season, through 23 August, San Diego FC sat 11th in the Western Conference on 27 points from 21 matches, a record of 7 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses, trailing the Portland Timbers and Minnesota United on 28 points. They were considerably stronger at Snapdragon Stadium, 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses with a goal difference of plus 12, than on the road, where they had 2 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses and a goal difference of minus 7. As Western Conference regular-season champions in 2025, San Diego FC qualified for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup, where they beat UNAM in the first round before being eliminated in the round of sixteen by Toluca, losing the second leg 4-0 and going out 6-3 on aggregate. They were also eliminated early from the 2026 Leagues Cup, losing 3-1 to Club America in their opening match on 6 August 2026.
Honours and landmarks
San Diego FC won the Western Conference regular-season title in their first year, 2025, and reached the Western Conference final in the playoffs before losing to Vancouver. The club's first ever match, a 2-0 win away to the defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy on 23 February 2025, was also its first win, with Anders Dreyer scoring both goals. The home opener on 1 March 2025, a 0-0 draw with St Louis City, drew a stadium-record crowd of 34,506 at Snapdragon Stadium. Further honours or trophies beyond the 2025 Western Conference regular-season title were not established from the sources read here.
Notable scorelines
San Diego FC opened their history with a 2-0 win at LA Galaxy on 23 February 2025, both goals scored by Anders Dreyer. During the 2025 regular season they beat FC Dallas 5-0 at home on 3 May 2025 and lost their heaviest defeat of the campaign 3-0 away to Charlotte FC on 10 April 2025. In the 2025 playoffs they beat Portland Timbers 2-1 in game one on 26 October and 4-0 in the decisive game three to advance, before losing 3-1 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Western Conference final. In the 2026 season they recorded two 5-0 wins, at home to CF Montreal and to Austin FC, while suffering a 4-2 defeat to Real Salt Lake and a 4-1 away loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. In the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup they were eliminated by Toluca, losing the second leg 4-0 and the tie 6-3 on aggregate, and in the 2026 Leagues Cup they lost their opener 3-1 to Club America.
Head-to-head notes
San Diego FC's earliest and highest-profile result came against LA Galaxy, the reigning MLS Cup champions, whom they beat 2-0 away in their first ever match on 23 February 2025 with around 1,000 travelling San Diego supporters at Dignity Health Sports Park. The club's match reports and coverage have since described fixtures with LAFC as a "SoCal" or Southern California rivalry, including a win over LAFC covered under the headline "San Diego FC snatch SoCal bragging rights over LAFC." In a further sign of the connection between the sides, San Diego FC sold their designated player Hirving "Chucky" Lozano to LA Galaxy. Fuller head-to-head records against LA Galaxy, LAFC or other Western Conference California clubs were not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026)
Mikey Varas remains head coach, in his second season in charge, with Tyler Heaps as general manager. San Diego FC sat 11th in the Western Conference on 27 points from 21 matches, 7 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses, having missed out narrowly on positions above them held by Portland Timbers and Minnesota United on 28 points. Their form has been notably split, strong at Snapdragon Stadium and weak away from home. They were eliminated from the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup by Toluca in the round of sixteen, 6-3 on aggregate, having beaten UNAM in the first round, and were knocked out of the 2026 Leagues Cup at the first hurdle by Club America. Anders Dreyer and Marcus Ingvartsen have been the club's leading offensive contributors through the campaign. The remainder of the 2026 MLS regular season and San Diego FC's summer transfer business, including the departure of Hirving Lozano to LA Galaxy, were not fully established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_FC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_San_Diego_FC_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_San_Diego_FC_season https://www.mlssoccer.com/clubs/san-diego-fc/
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.