Frisco, Texas (December 15, 2023) – FC Dallas has signed attacking midfielder Tomas Pondeca to a two-year deal contract with club options for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Pondeca becomes the second open trialist to sign with FC Dallas. Pondeca spent the 2023 season with MLS NEXT Pro side North Texas SC.
Pondeca attended North Texas SC’s 2023 open tryouts and was invited to NTSC’s preseason training camp where he scored in two out of three preseason matches. Pondeca signed his first professional contract with North Texas SC on March 10, 2023.
Pondeca made his professional debut in NTSC’s 1-0 road win against LAFC 2 on March 27, 2023, and scored his first professional goal in NTSC’s 4-0 home win against Timbers2 on July 30,2023. With North Texas, Pondeca appeared in 23 matches where he scored four times and assisted twice. Pondeca is the 65th player in MLS NEXT Pro history to sign a long-term first team contract.
The 22-year-old from Lewisville, Texas made his debut for the U.S. Men’s Futsal National Team on March 3, 2020, versus Slovakia. In the 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship, Pondeca won the Young Player Award presented by Scotiabank. During the competition he found the back of the net twice for the American squad and helped the USA qualify to the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania. Pondeca registered 17 appearances and six goals for Futsal USMNT.
Pondeca attended Flower Mound Marcus High School and played for the men’s soccer varsity program from 2016-20. He scored 18 goals in 45 appearances for the Marauders during his sophomore and junior years. In 2019, Pondeca was named Allstate All-American, which honors the top 250 high school boys and girls soccer players in the U.S. Pondeca was named to the district 6-6A first team during the 2019 season.
With the addition of Pondeca, Dallas now has 28 players under contract for the 2024 season:
Goalkeepers (2): Antonio Carrera, Maarten Paes
Defenders (8): Herbert Endeley, Marco Farfan, Sebastien Ibeagha, Geovane Jesus, Sam Junqua, Nolan Norris, Nkosi Tafari, Ema Twumasi
Midfielders (15): Eugene Ansah, Paul Arriola, Liam Fraser, Asier Illarramendi, Bernard Kamungo, Sebastian Lletget, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Isaiah Parker, Paxton Pomykal, Tomas Pondeca, Enes Sali, Tarik Scott, Dante Sealy, Alejandro Urzua, Alan Velasco
Forwards (3): Jesús Ferreira, José Mulato, Jesús Jiménez
The calendar of Major League Soccer’s offseason roster-building events is listed below.
MLS Offseason Roster Mechanisms:
Tuesday, Dec. 12: End-of-Year Waivers (4 p.m. CT)
Wednesday, Dec. 13: Free Agency begins (12 p.m. CT)
Thursday, Dec. 14: Re-Entry Draft Stage 1 (12 p.m. CT)
Tuesday, Dec. 19: MLS SuperDraft 2024 presented by Adidas (2 p.m. CT)
Thursday, Dec. 21: Re-Entry Draft Stage 2 (12 p.m. CT)
TRANSACTION DETAILS
Full Name: Tomas Pondeca
Pronunciation: TOE-mas pon-DEH-cah
Connect with Tomas: X | Instagram
Position: Midfielder or Winger
Date of Birth: October 10, 2001 (22)
Birthplace: Tucson, Arizona
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas
Nationality: American
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 170 lbs.
Last Club: North Texas SC
Language spoken: English
Transaction: FC Dallas signs attacking midfielder Tomas Pondeca to a two-year contract with club options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
