D.C. United is a professional soccer team in the United States . D.C. stands for District of Columbia . The team competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States and Canada . The team plays its home games at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
D.C. United was one of the founding teams of MLS in 1996. That year, the team became the league’s first champion, defeating the LA Galaxy in the first MLS Cup final. D.C. repeated as champions in 1997, defeating the Colorado Rapids for its second MLS Cup title. D.C. lost the 1998 MLS Cup final to the Chicago Fire (now called the Chicago Fire FC), but returned once again in 1999, defeating the LA Galaxy for its third title in the league’s first four seasons. United won its fourth MLS Cup title in 2004 over the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City ).
D.C. has won the Supporters’ Shield four times (1997, 1999, 2006, and 2007) as the MLS team with the best regular season record. D.C. has won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, an annual tournament open to amateur and professional soccer clubs, three times (1996, 2008, and 2013).
D.C. has qualified several times for the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football) Champions League , an annual tournament among that region’s best professional clubs. United won the tournament in 1998 when it was called the Champions Cup.
