Denton Diablos FC is an American semi-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 ...

club based in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

. Founded in 2018, the club plays in the Mid South Division of

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

(USL2).

History

In September 2018, the Diablos were announced as an

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

(NPSL) expansion side to play in the South Region's Lone Star Conference. The club was founded through a partnership between Damon Gochneaur, owner of the Denton-based Aspiro Agency, and Michael Hitchcock, owner of Playbook Management International and fellow NPSL side

Fort Worth Vaqueros FC Fort Worth Vaqueros FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Fort Worth, Texas, which began play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in May 2014. The Vaqueros play in the Lone Star Conference of the South Region. The club is based ...

. On October 2, 2018, the team announced Edward S. Marcus High School men's soccer coach Chad Rakestraw as the team's first head coach. In the team's first season, the club finished second in the Lone Star Conference before falling in the conference semifinals to the Vaqueros. In January 2020, Denton was announced as one of 14 NPSL clubs that would take part in the

2020 U.S. Open Cup The 2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was planned to be the 107th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, a knockout cup competition in American soccer. Atlanta United FC was the defending champion after defeating Minnesota United FC in the 2019 U.S. Open Cu ...

, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the tournament was canceled along with the

2020 NPSL season The 2020 National Premier Soccer League season was part of the 108th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States and the 18th season of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). Miami FC, the defending league champions, left in the of ...

. On October 23, 2020, Denton announced Ramón Raya as their new head coach. In 2021, the Diablos finished first on the Lone Star Conference table with an 8-1-1 record, 2 points ahead of the

Laredo Heat Laredo Heat Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in Laredo, Texas. The team competes in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, as a member of the Lone Star Division. The team plays its home games at the PEG Energ ...

. The team won the conference finals against Laredo and would go on a successful playoff run, winning against FC Golden State Force and

Cleveland SC Cleveland SC is an American semi-professional soccer club based in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio region. Cleveland competes in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) as part of the Midwest Region's Great Lakes Conference. The club was establishe ...

. This ultimately led to the championship matchup against

Tulsa Athletic Tulsa Athletic is an American soccer team and are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The 2023 NPSL National Champion, 2013 was their inaugural season in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), which is a national league at the fourth tie ...

, which the Diablos won 5-2 in front of their home crowd in Denton. In the 2022 season, the team failed to make the playoffs by 1 point, finishing the season 7-4-1. Due to the previous cancelation of the 2020 U.S. Open Cup, Denton made their first appearance in the competition in 2022, losing to a local qualifier (D'Feeters Kicks Soccer Club) in the 1st round. Additionally, the Diablos were chosen to be the NPSL representative in the 2022

Hank Steinbrecher Cup The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 54 state associations in four regions, as well as national, regional, and state leagues. It compares to the Un ...

as a result of their 2021 NPSL championship. They lost to USL2 member

Flint City Bucks Flint City Bucks is an American soccer team based in Flint, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1995, the team plays in USL League Two. The club was founded in 1995 as the Mid-Michigan Bucks, playing in Saginaw, and began playing in 1996. In 2 ...

2-1 in the Cup Final.

Year-by-year results

Players & staff

Ownership

* Damon Gochneaur - Aspiro Agency * Michael Hitchcock - Playbook Management International

General Manager & Technical Director

* Brad Namdar (2023–)

Head coaches

* Chad Rakestraw (2019–2020) * Ramón Raya (2020–2023) * Armando Pelaez (2023) * Ben Clarvis (2024) * Stewart Flaherty (2025-)

Honors

Domestic

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

Appearance 2022 *

Runner Up 2022

League

Champion

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* West Region Champion

* Roja League Champion 2020, 2021

Conference

* Lone Star Champion

* Lone Star Shield

* Chisolm Trail Clásico 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

References

External links

{{Denton Sports in Denton, Texas Association football clubs established in 2018 National Premier Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Texas 2018 establishments in Texas