The Houston Force were an American

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. In 1994, the club was originally called the Puerto Rico Islanders, but were forced to move by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

before playing any games. They instead played in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, where the Force only played one game before folding. The team had only three players with any significant professional experience, David Vaudreuil, Chris Charles and Eloy Salgado. Vaudreuil and Charles had both played with the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

in 1993 and Salgado had played in MISL. The team hired experienced manager

Hernan "Chico" Borja Hernán "Chico" Borja (August 24, 1959 – January 25, 2021) was an Ecuadorian-born American soccer player and coach. He spent time in the several U.S.-based leagues including the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and th ...

as head coach. The Force played the

Los Angeles Salsa The Los Angeles Salsa was an American soccer team based in Los Angeles that played in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the USISL Pro League. The club played on the campus of California State University, Fullerton at Titan Stad ...

on July 14, 1994, in Houston's Joe Kelly Butler Stadium. The Salsa handled the Force easily, winning 3-0, in front of an official attendance of 1,400 fans (estimated to be lower). Seven days later, the APSL executive board revoked the team's league membership based on financial issues.

Year-by-year

Managers

*1994:

Chico Borja Hernán "Chico" Borja (August 24, 1959 – January 25, 2021) was an Ecuadorian-born American soccer player and coach. He spent time in the several U.S.-based leagues including the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and t ...

References

Defunct soccer clubs in Texas

Force In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...

American Professional Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Texas Puerto Rico Islanders 1994 establishments in Texas 1994 disestablishments in Texas Association football clubs established in 1994 Association football clubs disestablished in 1994 {{Houston-stub