“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.”
Lionel Messi
San Diego FC
Woven into one
Man Capital made a significant investment in US sports in 2023 when an ownership group including Sir Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Native American tribe was awarded the 30th place in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Part of the Right to Dream family, San Diego FC will enter the MLS at the beginning of the 2025 season, which is scheduled to kick off in February 2025. The team will play at Snapdragon Stadium, a 35,000-seat venue which is located on the San Diego State University campus.
The Sycuan Tribe is the first Native American tribe to have an ownership stake in professional soccer in the United States. The six-time Major League Baseball All-Star Manny Machado is another investor. Other founding partners include Brad Termini, Co- founder, Zephyr Partners; Tom Vernon, Founder, Right to Dream; and Dan Dickinson, CEO, Right to Dream. Highly respected sports executive Tom Penn serves as the club’s CEO.
At the launch, Sir Mohamed said: “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the Sycuan Tribe to bring Major League Soccer to such a deserving community and legion of San Diego soccer fans. This is a real opportunity to create a powerful and lasting legacy for the city and region. We look forward to introducing Right to Dream’s unique developmental approach and unparalleled soccer expertise to San Diego and MLS by delivering tangible benefits to the community as we look to open doors and identify and nurture talent from across the county and beyond.”
Integral to the project is the 28-acre San Diego FC performance centre and Right to Dream academy on Sycuan land. The world-class facilities will include a 50,000-sq ft performance centre that will be shared by the first team and academy teams, as well as five full-sized soccer fields.
The Right to Dream Academy in San Diego offers a unique model of talent development by way of its holistic approach of character building, football development and focus on education. Unlike the traditional US pay-to-play model, Right to Dream San Diego is a scholarship-based academy whereby all enrolled, residential athletes will receive full five-year scholarships regardless of football performance. San Diego FC will become the first MLS club to offer a privately operated school combined with a residential football academy.
As an essential partner with Man Capital and Right to Dream, the Sycuan Tribe brings distinctive community connection and understanding to the area’s MLS expansion club, with the tribe residing in and around San Diego for more than 12,000 years. One of 12 Kumeyaay tribes in San Diego County, Sycuan has been a long-term partner with major institutions in the community, including the San Diego Padres, San Diego Symphony, Children’s Hospital, and hundreds of local non-profits.
Sir Mohamed Mansour speaks of his pride in establishing an MLS club in San Diego at the groundbreaking of the San Diego FC performance centre and Right to Dream academy in 2023
“What a proud moment this is for the city and the Sycuan Tribe to bring MLS to San Diego,” said Sycuan Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez. “Sycuan has deep roots to the San Diego community and found an incredible partner in Mohamed Mansour and the soccer expertise that he brings with Right to Dream. Sycuan continues to demonstrate its strong commitment to the San Diego region and our MLS team will provide us with a great opportunity to bring together many different segments of the community through their passion for the game.”
Highly regarded for its educational institutions, diverse communities, surging biomed and biotech industries, and with a reputation as one of the country’s best places to live and work, the passionate soccer market of San Diego is an important addition to MLS. For the San Diego region, the club’s arrival is expected to result in hundreds of millions of dollars in secondary and tertiary economic impact through vendors, contractors and club-related projects.
To find out more about San Diego FC, click here.
Key Statistics
Date invested:
May 2023
Geographies:
USA
Key Data
2025
Entering Major League Soccer: February 2025
30
San Diego is the 30th team in Major League Soccer