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DALLAS - FC Dallas President and General Manager Michael Hitchcock announced today that the club has acquired the rights to and signed former Manchester United forward and Dallas native Kenny Cooper. The 21-year old forward, who graduated from Dallas Jesuit High School in 2003, returns to the United States after spending the last two-and-a-half years at United. Per league and team policy, details of the contract were not disclosed.
"It's not every day that a player of Kenny Cooper's caliber leaves one of the top club teams in the world to pursue his dream of playing professional soccer in his home town," Hitchcock said. "This is a great day for FC Dallas, Major League Soccer and the entire Dallas Soccer Community."
Cooper, was born in Baltimore, Md. but moved with his family to Dallas at the age of 14. The son of former Dallas Tornado great Kenny Cooper Sr., Cooper played his club soccer with Solar Soccer Club in Dallas while also playing under Charles DeLong at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas. Following his high school career, Cooper was signed by English giant Manchester United, the club at which he has spent the last two-and-half-years.
Hailed by United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the club's best youth and reserve team prospects, Cooper was a regular in United's reserve team since his arrival while also experiencing loan spells at English club Oldham Athletic and Academica Coimbra in Portugal.
"We've been chasing Kenny for a couple of years now, we obviously were very aware of him seeing that he is from Dallas and was then at Man. United. Myself and Steve (Morrow) have seen him play three or four times in the last 16 months so when the opportunity arose and Kenny made it known that he wanted to come back home we jumped at the chance," FC Dallas Head Coach Colin Clarke said. "He is a young, strong forward who I think is going to do very well in this league and score a lot of goals, so we are thrilled to have him at FC Dallas.
You can see Cooper and the rest of the Hoops all season long at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. FC Dallas 2006 season tickets are on sale now. There are a wide range of seating options available, starting at just $180 per ticket for a full season plan which includes all 16 FC Dallas regular season home games, as well as four bonus games. There are also significant discounts available on FCD's ten and five-game ticket plans. Call 1-888-FCD-GOAL or visit www.fcdallas.net to reserve your spot at Pizza Hut Park for the exciting 2006 FC Dallas season.
