[7] On April 14, 1996, the Dallas Burn played their first game, defeating the San Jose Clash in a shootout win in front of a crowd of 27,779 fans at the Cotton Bowl.

[13] In October 2000, head coach Dave Dir was fired, despite again taking the team to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive time.

[15] In his first season in charge, which was cut short as a result of the September 11 attacks, Dallas lost in the playoff quarterfinals to Jeffries' former team.

[16] They were also eliminated in the second round of the 2001 U.S. Open Cup by the Seattle Sounders Select, an amateur team from the third-tier Premier Development League.

[17] The 2002 season ended with a third-place finish in the West and overall for Dallas, along with an early playoffs exit to the Colorado Rapids.

[18] For the 2004 season, Clarke was named the permanent coach and the team returned to the Cotton Bowl,[20] for a campaign in which they again missed the playoffs.

[21][22] In March 2005, FC Dallas signed Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz, who had scored 50 goals in 72 games for the Galaxy and earned the MVP award for helping them to the 2002 MLS Cup.

[23] On August 6, FC Dallas played their inaugural game at Pizza Hut Park and tied the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, 2–2.

[24] Ranked second in the West behind the San Jose Earthquakes, Dallas returned to the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, losing in the conference semifinals to Colorado in a penalty kick shootout, with Roberto Miña's attempt saved by Joe Cannon.

In 2007, a third consecutite playoff appearance ended at the same stage with a 4–2 aggregate defeat to fellow Texas club, the Houston Dynamo, who would go on to win their second consecutive MLS Cup.

[27] In 2005 and 2007, Dallas reached their first two U.S. Open Cup finals since their 1997 victory, losing both by one-goal margins to the Galaxy and the New England Revolution respectively.

On-loan Colombian midfielder David Ferreira was voted the league's MVP, having missed only one minute of the season,[32] and Hyndman won the MLS Coach of the Year Award.

[33] By finishing as runners-up in the MLS Cup, Dallas competed in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League, their first time in the leading continental tournament.

[35] The team followed this achievement with a victory by the same score at Toronto FC,[36] but did not win any of their four remaining games and were eliminated from the competition after finishing in third place in their group.

The club was eliminated by Pachuca, in their home and away semifinal series, after a late goal in overtime from Hirving Lozano.

[5] The team re-branded as FC Dallas in 2005 to coincide with their move to Pizza Hut Park in the middle of that season and has since played in a color scheme of red, white, silver, and blue, and a uniform design of horizontally hooped stripes.

[42] The colors are officially listed as Republic Red, Lonestar White, Bovine Blue, and Shawnee Silver.

In July 2012, the team wore their first sponsored jerseys, bearing the logo of Texan sports nutrition manufacturers AdvoCare.

[46] The jersey also incorporated the motto "Dallas 'Til I Die" on the inside of the collar and the initials "LH" on the back for Lamar Hunt.

The stadium's south end was extensively remodeled in 2018, including a new home for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

The two teams reside in the same state and compete for El Capitan, a working replica Civil War cannon that goes to the regular season victor.

[55] Due to league expansion and realignment, FC Dallas only plays Chicago and Columbus once a year now in the regular season, which has led to decreased importance of these two rivalry cups, especially when compared to the Texas Derby.

[56] The FC Dallas Academy has produced talent including Weston McKennie, Chris Richards, Nico Carrera, Reggie Cannon, Christian Cappis, Jesus Ferreira, Brandon Servania, Ricardo Pepi and Bryan Reynolds.

[60][61] Abroad, the team was previously affiliated to Tigres de la UANL of Mexico and Clube Atlético Paranaense of Brazil.

[68] In January 2023, FC Dallas announced a sponsorship deal with Children's Health and UT Southwestern to be its new jersey sponsors.

Prior to the all-streaming deal, the club's non-nationally televised games were primarily broadcast in Dallas on local channel KTXA.

[71] The club struggled for years to find consistent broadcast partners in the crowded Dallas–Fort Worth sports market.

[72] Due to scheduling conflicts with KTXA during the return of 2020 Major League Soccer season from the COVID-19 pandemic, select matches of FC Dallas were moved to Fox Sports Southwest.

The color commentator spot was filled until 2016 by a rotation of former MLS players including: Brian Dunseth, Ian Joy, Kevin Hartman, Steve Jolley, and Dante Washington.

Carlos Alvarado and Rafa Calderon provide Spanish language commentary on radio stations such as KFLC and KFZO.