Chicago Fire FC
Also written as Chicago.
The club
Chicago Fire FC were founded on 8 October 1997, the 126th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, from which the club takes its name, and began play in Major League Soccer the following year. The club represents Chicago, Illinois.
The current head coach is Gregg Berhalter, in his second season and also serving as sporting director, with the striker Robert Lewandowski joining as a Designated Player free agent on 29 June 2026 on a contract through the end of the 2027-28 season.
Chicago Fire FC should not be confused with the Chicago Sting, an earlier and entirely separate Chicago soccer club that played in the top-level North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and won the Soccer Bowl in 1981 and 1984; the Sting folded well before Chicago Fire were founded in 1997 and the two clubs share no lineage.
Recent seasons
Chicago Fire finished the 2025 MLS regular season 8th in the Eastern Conference and 13th overall. Through 20 matches of the 2026 season, as of late August, the club sat 3rd in the Eastern Conference with 11 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses for 36 points, with the forward Hugo Cuypers the club's leading scorer across all competitions with 13 goals. Full league finishes for 2021 through 2024 were not established from the sources read here.
Honours and landmarks
Chicago Fire's defining achievement came in their very first MLS season. In 1998 the club won both MLS Cup, beating D.C. United, and the US Open Cup, beating the Columbus Crew in Chicago, an expansion-season double that has not been repeated by any other MLS club. The club reached a second MLS Cup final in 2000, losing to the Kansas City Wizards, and a third in 2003.
Chicago Fire have won the US Open Cup four times, in 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006, more than any other MLS club, though the exact scale of that all-time lead over other clubs was not established from the sources read here.
The club played its early seasons at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront from 1998 to 2001, moved temporarily to Cardinal Stadium in Naperville during Soldier Field's 2002-03 renovation, returned to Soldier Field from 2003 to 2005, then relocated to what is now SeatGeek Stadium (formerly Toyota Park) in the southwest suburb of Bridgeview from 2006 to 2019. The club has played back at Soldier Field, capacity 61,500, since 2020.
Notable scorelines
The club's worst competitive defeat is a 6-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders in the 2014 US Open Cup semi-final on 13 August 2014. The club's biggest win in its history was not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
No formally named rivalry cup or trophy involving Chicago Fire was established from the sources read here, though the club has faced D.C. United and the Columbus Crew regularly across its MLS Cup and US Open Cup history, including both clubs in the 1998 finals double.
Right now (2026/27)
Gregg Berhalter is the head coach and sporting director. The club's headline 2026 signing is Robert Lewandowski, a Designated Player free agent who joined on 29 June 2026. Other notable additions for the season include the midfielder Anton Salétros from AIK of Sweden, the midfielder André Franco, signed permanently from FC Porto after a loan spell, and the Finnish winger Robin Lod, a free-agent signing from Minnesota United.
Recent 2026 MLS results include a 1-0 win over Nashville on 4 April, a 1-0 win over Atlanta United on 11 April, and a 3-3 draw with FC Cincinnati on 18 April. As of late August 2026 the club sat 3rd in the Eastern Conference, 11 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses from 20 matches, for 36 points. Full details of the club's playoff position and any 2026 US Open Cup or Leagues Cup involvement were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Fire_FC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Chicago_Fire_FC_season
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.