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Minnesota Twin Stars

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Minnesota Twin Stars
Full nameMinnesota TwinStars FC
Nickname(s)TwinStars FC
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
StadiumMinnetonka High School
Capacity~1,000
PresidentPeter Maracotta
ManagerYoussef Darbaki
LeagueNPSL
20174th, Midwest-North
Final Four: DNQ
Current season

Minnesota TwinStars FC is an American soccer team playing in the Minnetonka High School Stadium, Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1997, the team plays in National Premier Soccer League. Prior to the 2004 season, the team was known as the St. Paul TwinStars FC.

The Minnesota TwinStars FC historically had a long-standing relationship with the Hmong community in Minnesota, along with the African community in suburbs such as Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. In the early stages of the team's history, the dominant ethnic group that played on the TwinStars were Hmong, from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Midwest (now Midwest-North) division champions two times (2008 and 2009), and National Championship runner-up once (2008), in two NPSL Final Four appearances.

History between the TwinStars FC and professional clubs around the world has been strong. Several players have gone on to play professionally in North America and Europe, such as Ismaila Jome, Alex Nyom, Geoffrey Myers, and Liberian international, Ansu Toure. Equatorial Guinean international, Francis Mbome arrived to the Minnesota outfit in 2010 and played with them for two years.

The men's team is the senior representative of the Minnesota TwinStars Academy (TSA), which was founded in 2012. The TSA U-16 club was ranked first in Minnesota in 2014, fourth in the region, and 100 nationally in just its second year of existence.

History

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Early success

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TwinStars was created by Yeng Xiong in late 1997 with elite Hmong players.

2006–2010

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The TwinStars have competed for the Midwest title throughout its existence. Their first taste of success was the 2006 season, where one of their players, Igor Stosic, was named to the NPSL Midwest All-Star team.

They followed up in the 2007 season, by having two of their players names on the All-Star team; Juan Fiz, and 3-time winner (two with the TwinStars) Igor Stosic.

Winning their first Midwest title in 2008, having five of their players named into the Midwest All-Star team, and one of the five, Geoffrey Myers, was named as the 2008 MVP, after scoring 14 goals and five assists in only 12 appearances. Following their triumph in regional competition, the club played in the NPSL Final Four in New York, where they were runners-up in the National tournament.

TwinStars FC won the Midwest title again in 2009, this time having four players named to the Midwest All-Star team. Once again having the league MVP, this time being the 5-time All-Star, Igor Stosic, becoming the most decorated TwinStars FC player in history.

The 2010 season saw the arrival of Equatorial Guinean international Francis Mbome. The TwinStars placed third of six teams in the Midwest division, having an overall record of 5–3–2. For the third season in a row, they had produced the league MVP, this time being former Liberian national team player Richard Kamara.

Developing years

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2011–2013

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The 2013 season saw many players from the youth sides advance into the senior team. Seven of the players who regularly started games for the TwinStars were in high school; all coming from Prairie Seeds Academy.

Crest and colors

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The club crest has been changed several times, usually featuring a dragon, with two stars above a red and black shield. The current crest, featuring a red dragon in front of the black half of the shield, and a black dragon on the red half of the shield, both clutching a soccer ball with two golden stars (hence the name "TwinStars") above them, is a modified version of one of the first crests, used in 2005.

Stadiums

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Statistics and records

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All-Star Team Players

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Africa

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Europe

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South America

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  • Argentina Juan Fiz (2007, 2008)

Club MVPs

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Captains

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  • Argentina Juan Fiz (2006–2007)
  • Liberia Richard Kamara (2008–2011)
  • Mali Adama Diawara (2012)
  • Liberia Martin Browne (2013–2014)
  • Morocco Karim Darbaki (2014–present)

Current technical staff

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as of 28 April 2015

Position Name
Head Coach Youssef Darbaki
Assistant Coach Bulut Turk Ozturk
Goalkeeper Coach Brian Teske
Technical & Academy Director Youssef Darbaki
Trainer Dr. Nicole Hamel
Trainer Marcia Abbott

Seasonal statistics

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Year Division League Reg. Season National Final Four Open Cup
2005 4 NPSL 4th, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2006 4 NPSL 3rd, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2007 4 NPSL 3rd, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2008 4 NPSL 1st, Midwest Runner-up Did not enter
2009 4 NPSL 1st, Midwest Semi-finalists Did not enter
2010 4 NPSL 3rd, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2011 4 NPSL 4th, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2012 4 NPSL 4th, Midwest-Central Did not qualify Did not enter
2013 4 NPSL 4th, Midwest-Central Did not qualify Did not enter
2014 4 NPSL 5th, Midwest-Central Did not qualify Did not enter
2015 4 NPSL 13th, Midwest Did not qualify Did not enter
2016 5 APL 3rd Did not qualify Did not enter
2017 4 NPSL 6th, Midwest-North Did not qualify Did not enter

Managers

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Honors

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Domestic

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References

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