Chicago Red Stars

The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) since 2013.

WPS was the NWSL's predecessor as the professional women's soccer league in the United States, and the Red Stars played in the WPS in 2009 and 2010. After leaving the WPS in December 2010 due to the league's financial issues, the club joined the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) for the 2011 season. In 2012, the Red Stars co-founded and played in Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL-E): a one-year league which bridged the WPS and the NWSL. The club became a founding member of the NWSL, which was financially supported by U.S. Soccer, in 2012.

The Red Stars play their home games at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. In October 2021, they held the record for the longest active playoff streak (2015–2021) in the NWSL.

History

Women's Professional Soccer

Establishment

In 2006, it was announced that Chicago would field a team in a new women's professional soccer league. The team joined six others (Washington Freedom, Boston Breakers, Los Angeles Sol, FC Gold Pride, Sky Blue FC, and Saint Louis Athletica) in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for the league's inaugural season in 2009. Marcia McDermott, former head coach of the Northwestern University women's soccer team and the Women's United Soccer Association's Carolina Courage, was named as the Red Stars' general manager.

On June 3, 2008, the "Red Stars" name was announced at a Toyota Park ceremony. The name refers to the four six-pointed red stars on the flag of Chicago. Each star represents a landmark event in Chicago history: Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire, the 1893 World's Fair, and the 1933 World's Fair.