the establishment of the club, along with the concurrent purchase of toyota field by the city of san antonio and bexar county, was part of a plan by local officials to obtain an expansion franchise in major league soccer. as a result, the san antonio scorpions franchise of the north american soccer league was shut down. the first head coach in club history is former elon university men's soccer coach and orlando city sc pro academy director, darren powell. carlos alvarez was the club's first player signing on february 2, 2016.