Chicago Fire Soccer Club is an American, professional soccer club based in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Illinois. Founded October 8, 1997 on the 126th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; the Fire participates in Major League Soccer. In 1998, their first league season, the Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the U.S. Open Cup (the "double"). They have also won the 2000, 2003, and 2006 U.S. Open Cup.
There is a complete club developmental system consisting of Chicago Fire Premier ( a Premier Development League team) the Chicago Fire Youth Academy, and the Chicago Fire Juniors youth teams. A charitable community organization, the FireWorks for Kids Foundation, is also administered by the Fire.
The official club colors are red and white. Over its history, the Fire have also employed navy blue, sky blue, and black as alternate or accent colors.
The club was founded on October 8, 1997. Originally based at Soldier Field, they now have their own stadium, Toyota Park at 71st and Harlem Avenue. The owners of the Fire are Andell Holdings, who purchased the club in 2007. Andrew Hauptman, director of Andell Holdings, acts as chairman while the current president is Dave Greeley. The club are historically most successful in the U.S. Open Cup; winning championships in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006. Chicago's chief rivals are the New England Revolution and FC Dallas. 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.
A number of famous players wore the Fire shirt, including U.S. 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 imported both established international talent such as Peter Nowak, Lubos Kubik, Hristo Stoichkov, Tomasz Frankowski, and Cuauhtémoc Blanco; and younger developmental players like Damani Ralph, Ivan Guerrero, Bakary Soumare, and Patrick Nyarko.
