FC Dallas first match was scheduled for Wednesday against the Vancouver Whitecaps, but the game was postponed over the holiday weekend. The club says that a total of ten players and one coach had tested positive for the coronavirus since arriving in Orlando, which prompted the league to pull them from the tournament.
"We absolutely agree with the league's decision to withdraw FC Dallas from the MLS is Back Tournament out of safety concerns for our players and staff," said FC Dallas president Dan Hunt. "We're looking forward to resuming the 2020 season once the entire club is healthy and in position to play competitive matches at the highest level."
The club is working with Major League Soccer and health officials on a plan that can safely return FC Dallas' players and staff to their home base of Frisco.
This announcement comes after the club said last week that they had six players test positive for the virus.
In a statement, the club said when they left for Orlando all of their players and staff members tested negative for the virus, but upon landing in Florida, two players tested positive. Those players were immmediately isolated from the rest of the team and placed in quarentine.
As they continued to test the players over the next two days, four more players tested positive for COVID-19, leading FC Dallas to order all players and staff to quarentine in their hotel rooms out of an abundance of caution.