(1 users)
Chicago Fire Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Illinois. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS). The organization is named for the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and was founded on October 8, 1997, the event's 126th anniversary. In their first league season in 1998, the Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the U.S. Open Cup (the "double"). They have also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006; in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield.
The Fire maintain an extensive development system, consisting of the Chicago Fire Premier (Premier Development League and Super-20 League teams), the Chicago Fire NPSL team, 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. Toyota Park is the Fire's home stadium. The team's head coach is Frank Yallop. Brian Bliss serves as the team's technical director. Yallop's coaching staff is rounded out by assistant coaches Marc Bircham and Clint Mathis, and goalkeeping coach Aron Hyde.
Founded on October 8, 1997, the club was originally based at Soldier Field. Since 2006, they reside at Toyota Park at 71st and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview. The owners of the Fire are Andell Holdings, who purchased the club in 2007. Andell Holdings director Andrew Hauptman acts as club chairman, while the director of soccer is Frank Yallop and the Chief Operating Officer is Atul Khosla. The Fire are historically most successful in the U.S. Open Cup; winning championships in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006. The Fire keeps a close connection with the Chicago Sting (its predecessor team in the NASL) by holding frequent commemorative events, reunions, and wearing Sting-inspired shirts.
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 and Eric Wynalda. Some of the club's other notable American professional players include C.J. Brown, Jesse Marsch, Chris Rolfe, and Zach Thornton. The Fire also has a reputation for importing international talent, from established veterans like Pável Pardo, Piotr Nowak, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Tomasz Frankowski, Lubos Kubik and Hristo Stoichkov; in addition to younger players such as Patrick Nyarko, Marco Pappa, Damani Ralph, Bakary Soumare, and Nery Castillo.
Nikolić | Goossens | Leeuw | Mihailović | ||||
Bronico | Schweinsteiger |
1998 |
|
|
Website |
|
Youtube |