Chicago Fire FC
Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Chicago. The club competes in Major League Soccer as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Fire play their home games at Soldier Field, which they share with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League.
The franchise, named in memory of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was founded as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997, the Great Fire's 126th anniversary. The team began play in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams. The Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the U.S. Open Cup in their first season in 1998. They also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006, in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield. Although finishing near the bottom of the league consistently, Chicago Fire FC is valued at over $500 million.
The club maintains an extensive development system, consisting of the Chicago Fire Development Academy and the Chicago Fire Juniors youth organization. They also operate the Chicago Fire Foundation, the team's community-based charitable division.
History
Overview
Chicago Fire Football Club was founded as Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997. The club is named after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; the official founding date of the team was the 126th anniversary of that event. The owner and chairman of the Fire is Joe Mansueto, who purchased the club in 2019. The club president is Ishwara Glassman-Chrein; Georg Heitz was appointed sporting director in December 2019; The Fire were originally based at Soldier Field from 1997 to 2006. From 2006 to 2019, the club played at SeatGeek Stadium, a stadium originally built for the club, at 71st and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview. In 2019, with the change of ownership to Joe Mansueto, the Fire returned to Soldier Field for the 2020 MLS season. The Fire are currently one of the most successful clubs in the U.S. Open Cup, winning championships in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006.Many notable players have worn the Fire shirt, including U.S. internationals Chris Armas, Carlos Bocanegra, Frank Klopas, DaMarcus Beasley, Brian McBride, Tony Sanneh, Cory Gibbs, Ante Razov, Josh Wolff, Eric Wynalda and Jon Busch. Some of the club's other notable American professional players include C.J. Brown, Jesse Marsch, Chris Rolfe, and Zach Thornton. The Fire also have a reputation for importing international talent, from established veterans like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Pável Pardo, Piotr Nowak, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Tomasz Frankowski, Luboš Kubík, Hristo Stoichkov and Jorge Campos; in addition to younger players such as Patrick Nyarko, Marco Pappa, Damani Ralph, Bakary Soumaré and Nery Castillo.
Chicago was once the home of the Chicago Sting who competed in the top-level North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984. They spread their home games at Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, and Comiskey Park. The Sting won the Soccer Bowl twice: 1981 and 1984. They were the only club other than the New York Cosmos to win multiple titles in the NASL. Some of the club's notable players were Argentine striker Pato Margetic and German forwards Karl-Heinz Granitza and Arno Steffenhagen.
Foundation and initial success (1997–2000)
Founded in 1997 at Navy Pier, on the anniversary of the Great Fire, the Fire immediately tapped into the diverse ethnic makeup of the city. The team brought in Polish players Piotr Nowak, Jerzy Podbrożny, and Roman Kosecki; the Mexican Jorge Campos; and the Czech Luboš Kubík. While all showed their talent while playing for Chicago that first year, American players proved most integral to the Fire's continued success. Under the club's first head coach, Bob Bradley—and against all expectation—the team completed the double in its first competitive year, beating D.C. United in the 1998 MLS Cup Final, and defeating the Columbus Crew in Chicago to win the 1998 U.S. Open Cup a week later.The team's momentum continued, winning the 2000 U.S. Open Cup over the Miami Fusion and reaching the 2000 MLS Cup final, losing to the Kansas City Wizards. Internationally experienced players such as Hristo Stoitchkov joined the Fire, while young American talents such as DaMarcus Beasley developed. The Fire quickly became cemented as one of the league's preeminent teams.
Nomadic times (2002–2004)
With Soldier Field undergoing massive renovations, the Fire moved to the western Chicago suburb of Naperville in 2002. That same year, Bob Bradley abruptly departed the team to lead the MetroStars, from his home state of New Jersey. The Fire then selected the U.S. men's national team's top assistant, Dave Sarachan, to assume the vacant post.Chicago qualified for the league final while also capturing the Supporters' Shield and 2003 U.S. Open Cup along the way. The team returned to Chicago and the renovated Soldier Field midway through the 2003 season.
After that season, longtime captain Piotr Nowak retired to take a position in the front office. He departed a year later to become manager of D.C. United. In this period new talent emerged, including Jamaican striker Damani Ralph. Still, stagnating performances and the building strength of the Eastern Conference made Chicago's league position ever more tenuous. In 2004, the team missed the league playoffs for the first time in their history.
Turmoil, and a permanent home (2005–2007)
The 2005 season began with the unexpected dismissal of popular club president Peter Wilt by then-owners AEG, a move decried by fans, many players, and club staff. This came as a shock, given his brokering of a $100m deal to build the Fire a stadium in the collar suburb of Bridgeview. He was immediately replaced by MetroStars executive John Guppy.Competitively, the season was most notable for the blockbuster visit of Milan from Italy's Serie A, and the surprising 4–0 away defeat of D.C. United in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.
2006 arrived, and the Fire moved from Soldier Field into its new stadium in Bridgeview, a southwest suburb of Chicago: Toyota Park, located at the corner of 71st Street and Harlem Avenue. In its first season, it played host to an unspectacular league campaign; but victory in the 2006 U.S. Open Cup marked a continuation of the club's successes and promise for the future.
The anxiety to win another league title continued to grow, however. Sarachan entered 2007 under intense pressure from fans and the administration to produce a league championship. Tension mounted further on April 3, 2007, when the Fire signed Mexico and América star Cuauhtémoc Blanco to a Designated Player contract. After a perfect three matches to open the year, they won only one of their next eight, and Sarachan was dismissed. Following a brief search, Millonarios manager Juan Carlos Osorio was named the club's third head coach.
Andell Inc. acquisition of the Fire (2007–2009)
More change came soon afterward. On September 6, 2007, Andell Holdings, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm controlled by chairman Andrew Hauptman, acquired AEG's interest in the Chicago Fire Soccer Club. Reports estimated the purchase price to be upwards of $35 million. The team has not won a major trophy since Hauptman bought the team.On the field, behind Blanco and Wilman Conde, Osorio's central defender at Millionarios, the Fire went on an extended unbeaten run to close the season, easily qualifying for the playoffs but were defeated at New England in the Eastern Conference Final. On December 10, 2007, the Fire announced Osorio's resignation. He was named manager of the New York Red Bulls eight days later. Hauptman filed tampering charges with the league in protest, and the Fire were compensated by the Red Bulls with cash and draft picks.
Changes came quickly in Osorio's wake. On January 17, 2008, former Fire star Frank Klopas was named Technical Director in charge of player personnel, and longtime Fire assistant Denis Hamlett was appointed manager. While the Fire struggled at home in 2008 the team found unusual success on the road, gathering 22 out of a possible 45 away points. Momentum grew with the long-anticipated signing of Chicago native Brian McBride on a free transfer in July 2008. After disposing of the Red Bulls 5–2 in the season's final game, they decisively conquered New England in the first round of the playoffs with a 3–0 victory at home. This was Chicago's first playoff advancement over the Revolution in four consecutive seasons. But triumph only lasted for a week, as they again missed the league final with their 2–1 Eastern Conference Final loss to eventual champion Columbus.
The 2009 season saw few alterations to the previous year's roster. The story of the season was much the same, as continued poor home form offset excellent performances away from Toyota Park. This led to a second place Eastern Conference finish behind Columbus. Despite this, Real Salt Lake managed to upset the Crew in the quarterfinals, meaning Chicago would host the semi-final for the first time in six years. Chicago's nearly flawless home playoff history meant little in the end, as they lost to Salt Lake, 5–3, on penalties after 120 scoreless minutes. Shortly thereafter, manager Denis Hamlett was dismissed.
A team in flux (2010–2012)
Leading up to 2010, Chicago hired Carlos de los Cobos as head coach, previously manager of El Salvador. Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chris Rolfe and Gonzalo Segares all departed. More changes came in the summer transfer window with the trade of Justin Mapp to Philadelphia, the acquisition of Mexican international striker Nery Castillo, and the trade for former Swedish international midfielder Freddie Ljungberg. Defender Gonzalo Segares returned to the Fire, leaving Apollon Limassol after only six months away. Despite these reinforcements, the Fire failed to qualify for the playoffs for only the second time in club history. Former U.S. international Brian McBride and club original C.J. Brown retired at season's end, followed closely by the departures of Wilman Conde, Ljungberg, and Castillo.2011 began much in the way of 2010, with foundering performances both home and away. After nine winless matches, Carlos de los Cobos was let go on May 30, 2011. Technical Director Frank Klopas was named interim head coach. Behind summer reinforcements Pável Pardo and Sebastián Grazzini, as well as forward Dominic Oduro's 12 goals after being acquired in a trade from Houston and Dan Gargan's defensive addition, the Fire qualified for the U.S. Open Cup Final and narrowly missed making the playoffs after gaining 24 points in their last 12 league matches. After the season's conclusion, Klopas was given the permanent manager job on November 3, 2011.
Although expectations were modest for 2012, Klopas' first full season as coach, the year saw a change in fortune for the Fire. The spring and summer months saw several new acquisitions for the club, starting with the reacquiring of Chris Rolfe from Aalborg BK. Rolfe, who scored eight goals and 12 assists in the 21 games he played in 2012, would later be named the Fire's MVP. Other signings included Brazilian midfielders Alex Monteiro de Lima from the Swiss side FC Wohlen, Alvaro Fernández from Seattle Sounders FC, forward Sherjill MacDonald from Beerschot AC of Belgium and veteran defender Arne Friedrich from VfL Wolfsburg. Although they would fall out of the U.S. Open tournament early that season, the Fire eventually compiled a 17–11–6 record, their best since 2000, and ranked as high as second in the Eastern Conference before ending the year in fourth place. On October 31, 2012, in their first playoff appearance since 2009, the Fire lost their first-round MLS Cup playoff match-up at home against the Houston Dynamo, 2–1.