Thank you for 2025, subscribers! 2026 is going to be massive.

First things first: thank you. Whether you’ve been here all year or jumped in somewhere along the way, this site quite literally exists because you show up, read, click, argue with me in your head, and occasionally hit “subscribe.” That matters more than you probably realize.

Big D Soccer isn’t backed by a faceless media conglomerate or a hedge fund with a soccer kink — it’s powered by people who care about FC Dallas, weird MLS roster rules, and why allocation money is both fascinating and deeply annoying.

2025 was a busy one. We dug into roster builds, salary cap gymnastics, international slots, academy pipelines, North Texas SC, and the long road to 2026, all while trying to explain what the heck FC Dallas was doing this year. We covered what worked, what didn’t, and what still needs fixing because blind optimism is boring and honest analysis is more fun. Below are a few of the pieces I’m most proud of from the year, with more favorites linked further down if you want to kill some time productively.

If you’re a paid subscriber, thank you for directly supporting this work. Seriously. Your support helps keep this site independent, detailed, and just opinionated enough to be useful without becoming unbearable.

And if you’re currently reading this as a free subscriber — welcome, I’m glad you’re here. The free tier will always exist. But the reality is simple: more paid subscribers means deeper coverage, more projects, more interviews that you care about, more road trips to cover the club, and fewer moments where I mutter “I should really have time to do that.”

Looking ahead, 2026 is looming large — for FC Dallas, for MLS, and for soccer in this city. Big D Soccer plans to be right in the middle of it, covering the present while keeping one eye firmly on what’s coming next. If you like what’s being built here and can swing a few bucks a month, I’d love to have you along for the ride. Either way, thanks for spending part of your year here. I don’t take that lightly.