Chicago Fire - last updated on 23 February 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Chicago Fire
Foundation: October 8th 1997
City: Chicago, Illinois
Colours: Red, white and navy blue
Website: www.chicago-fire.com
Honours:
MLS Cup - 1 (1998)
MLS Supporters' Shield - 1 (2003)
US Open Cup - 4 (1998, 2000, 2003, 2006)
Brimstone Cup - 1 (2001)
Central Division Conference - 2 (2000, 2001)
Eastern Conference - 1 (2003)
A bit of history:
Founded October 8, 1997 in a ceremony on Navy Pier, the Chicago Fire Soccer Club immediately tapped into the ethnic makeup of its city, bringing in Polish players like Peter Nowak, Jerzy Podbrozny, and Roman Kosecki, Mexican Jorge Campos, and Czech Lubos Kubik. While all showed their talent while playing for Chicago (especially Nowak, the captain for 5 years) it was the young American players that overall proved most successful and integral to success continuing to this day. They won the "double" in 1998, beating DC United to take the MLS Cup, and a week later the Columbus Crew to win the U.S. Open Cup. They are the most successful club in the modern U.S. Open Cup, winning championships in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006.
The club's first head coach, Bob Bradley, suddenly and unexpectedly left after the 2002 season to lead the MetroStars, the club from his home state. After an extensive search the team selected Dave Sarachan, the top assistant on the US national team, to lead. Chicago qualified for the 2003 league final, after a season that saw them resettle at Soldier Field after being forced to play in west suburban Naperville, Illinois while the stadium underwent massive renovations. Despite this, they amassed the best record in the league and captured the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield, awarded for the regular season's best record. 2003 also saw team captain Peter Nowak retire and take a position in the front office, only to depart a year later to become coach at DC United. In 2006, the club moved into a brand new purpose-built 20,000 capacity stadium at the corner of 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, on the southwest side of Chicago.
Despite success consistently throughout its history, especially in the U.S. Open Cup, the Fire is anxious to win another MLS title. Coach Sarachan entered 2007, his fifth season in charge, under intense pressure from fans and the club to produce a league championship sooner rather than later. After a 3-0-1 start, the Fire won only one game of their next eight, leading to Sarachan's dismissal, and Denis Hamlett taking over as interim head coach on June 20, 2007.
Chicago's chief rival is FC Dallas. Since 2001, the two teams compete annually for the Brimstone Cup (established by the fans of both teams), which goes to the victor in the season series between them. While FC Dallas remains the most historically heated rival, recent years have fostered venom between the Fire and the New England Revolution with the clubs ending each other's season every year since 2001.
A number of famous players have worn the Fire shirt, including the US internationals Chris Armas, Frank Klopas, Eric Wynalda, DaMarcus Beasley, Josh Wolff, Tony Sanneh, Carlos Bocanegra, and Justin Mapp; and other Americans like Jesse Marsch, C.J. Brown, Ante Razov, Zach Thornton, and Chris Rolfe. Chicago has also brought in established international talent such as Peter Nowak, Lubos Kubik, Hristo Stoichkov, and younger players like Damani Ralph, and Ivan Guerrero.
The Chicago Fire logo is derived from the standard style of a Fire Department's crest (also shown by the Chicago Fire Department). The shape is also known as a Florian's cross, often confused with the Maltese cross, and was picked in part due to the wishes of original GM Peter Wilt to create an image that was both as timeless as those of the NHL Original Six and evocative of European soccer. There is a stylized 'C' in the center representing Chicago, similar to the logos of the Bears and Cubs. The six star points around the center reference the four six-pointed stars in the municipal flag of the City of Chicago. The four stars in the city's flag represent the four monumental events in the history of the city, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the 1893 World's Fair, the 1933 World's Fair, and the Fort Dearborn Massacre.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Chicago Fire -
Founded in 1997
