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As San Diego FC prepare for their first playoff appearance this Sunday, they do so with the deserved title of record breakers. The expansion club has earned the Western Conference’s No 1 seed and set records for most victories (19) and points (63) in a single season by an MLS expansion team. As a result, they will be at home for the remainder of the playoffs, and would host MLS Cup if they make it there and meet anyone other than the Supporters’ Shield-winning Philadelphia Union.
Now, they’re aiming for more history – to become the first expansion side to win MLS Cup since 1998 when the Chicago Fire achieved it against DC United.
“For me, this was always the objective,” Hirving “Chucky” Lozano told the Guardian. The 30-year-old Mexico international arrived in San Diego as the club’s first designated player after a great career with PSV and Napoli. He’s also been in the headlines this week, having been separated from the team for their trip to Portland on Decision Day – a decision that head coach Mikey Varas chalked up to an internal issue.
Lozano later apologized on social media, hinting at a concept Varas had brought up when interviewed by the Guardian before the suspension was reported.
“We believe that our collectivity is our superpower,” Varas said. “We say a lot to ourselves that we’re here to win, but how we win and who we win with matters. And that’s how we feel, really, at the deepest part of our DNA. [We’re] a team that’s relentless, that won’t give up and doesn’t stop playing the way that they want to play. And then a team that has a fighting team spirit, you know, one that, is always connected.”
For San Diego, winning is not just a result at the end of 90 minutes, it’s a personality trait that comes with daily lessons. To do that, you need not just stars like Lozano but also great players that don’t earn as many headlines; like veteran Panamanian anchor Aníbal Godoy, San Diego native and USMNT’s Luca de la Torre (on loan from Celta Vigo) and Anders Dreyer, the 27-year-old Dane who came to the club from Anderlecht who has lit up his first MLS campaign. In his first season, Dreyer earned 38 goal contributions (19g/19a), thus becoming the player with more goals (17) and goal contributions (27) on the road in the history of the league. On Thursday, he was named a finalist for the MLS MVP award.
The roster as a whole, though, has been formed under San Diego’s careful philosophy, which has its foundations in analytics and homegrown talent. Through data and other means, the pivotal strategy is not just to find the right players, but to build them.
“Our academy will be the heartbeat of this club, and homegrowns, ideally, will be the heartbeat of this club,” says Tyler Heaps, the club’s general manager and sporting director. At 34, he is the youngest in the league to serve this position. “It’ll hopefully make my job a whole lot easier, in the future, because we should have this talent and development opportunity for these players, and then we will give them an opportunity in the first team.”
Heaps points to examples of young players who are already getting significant minutes with San Diego, like first-round draft picks Manu Duah and Ian Pilcher and 19-year-old left-back Luca Bombino, who came on loan from LAFC and has had a great campaign.
“Our style of play is also catered to set up for young players,” says Heaps. “It’s catered to some of the things that we do with our defensive shape, some of the things that we do in our training environment, to make sure that those decisions are a lot cleaner and a lot easier for our players to understand, so that they can go play on instincts and everything else that they’re taught to do from a young age.”
Education at San Diego FC – on and off the pitch – is spearheaded by their centerpiece vision: the Right to Dream football academy. Founded in Ghana in 1999 by Tom Vernon, the academy has produced more than 100 professional players including Tottenham Hotspur and Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus and Ivorian Simon Adingra, who joined Sunderland this past summer from Brighton. The academy plays vital roles in regions such as Denmark with FC Nordsjælland and FC Masar in Egypt and it has been the driving foundation behind San Diego FC. Last month, the club’s state-of-the art academy complex, where the first team also trains, opened in a 28-acre site on Sycuan tribal land in El Cajon, about 16 miles east of San Diego. It is the league’s first ever integrated school and academy beginning at middle school age for boys and girls where each residential student-athlete receives a five-year scholarship regardless of performance. That’s a first for MLS and North America.
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Heaps was recruited and appointed by Mohamed Mansour, San Diego’s founding partner and chair who also owns Right to Dream through his UK-based family office Man Capital. Heaps had been working for Monaco from 2021 to 2023 before joining Right to Dream as head of recruitment and insights.
“[Our vision] is about character development, holistic development, player development, staff development. It’s why I’m here,” Heaps says.
The players at the academy, for the most part, come from San Diego and Tijuana, a mecca for young Mexican talent. In San Diego, where more than 30% of the population are Hispanic/Latino and the majority being Mexican-American, the strategy to recruit across borders is vital from both a footballing and cultural one.
“[The American/Mexican recruitment] is critical for our player development but also for our club because it identifies with the essence of this entire region, which is this unique and deep cross-border connectivity,” says Tom Penn, San Diego FC’s CEO, who also co-founded LAFC back in 2014 and served as president. “[San Diego] is this truly unique culture that is truly southern California but it’s distinct from Los Angeles…there’s a unique rhythm and quality of life here. And everybody is grateful for that, they embrace the diversity of the cultures here and then there’s just real civic pride and a sports team can bring together that whole community around that pride.”
Varas, who has a personal connection to San Diego as he met his wife Jessica here, agrees.
“I just know San Diego really well. I know how creative it is, how diverse it is, but also how hardworking and competitive it is. They love their region, they love their community, and whether you were born and raised here, or you were a transplant like myself and you found your way here, you fall in love with this place, and then you make huge sacrifices to stay here.”
For Lozano, who was born in Mexico City and moved to Pachuca when he was 11, the border culture is not something he grew up with. But he feels right at home in San Diego and also sees the massive benefits from being part of a club that strongly represents two very close cultures. “I think [the area] is so important because it can attract many players because there is so much talent, both in the US and Mexico, so to apply that combination is going to be beautiful and attractive.”
But as far as he’s concerned, the recipe for success needs an outcome. First, it was the regular season. Now comes the second target: to win MLS Cup.
“I think – and I have faith – that we can do it. We’re on the right path,” Lozano said. “I always thought we could achieve important things from the beginning. I came here [to this club] because of the project and everything that surrounds it, from the ownership and everything else, it’s wonderful and all of that attracted me to come to San Diego and that’s why I chose to come here.”
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Luis Miguel Echegaray is a writer, analyst and host specializing in soccer and sports content that also appeals to the US Latino and young audience. He has previously worked at ESPN, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated and is returning to The Guardian as a contributor.
