Football Season Guide

After yet another year without play-off football, 7 seasons in a row now, Chicago Fire decided to invest big this off-season. In 2023 Fire played relatively well early on but struggled to record wins. This cost coach Ezra Henrickson his job 16 rounds into the season. Frank Klopas returned for his third stint as the head coach and the displays improved under him. Fire very nearly sneaked into the play-in match but a decisive final round of the season saw them miss out again. Still, under Klopas the displays were much better and that was enough to convince the owner to write the manager a blank check for transfers this winter. Fire added great striker from Europe to their ranks. Hugo Cuypers has been scoring goals at will both in the domestic league in Belgium and in European competitions, so he promises to be a big hit in the MLS. The MLS and Champions League winning midfielder Kelly Acosta also arrived. The other big signing was that of the Danish centre-back Tobias Salquist. None of the players that have departed were doing very well or fitted in the team, so the Fire are much stronger and deeper right now. With the new additions joining a promising core led by Xherdan Shaqiri and the young Mexican superstar Brian Gutiérrez Chicago Fire look to have built a team ready to finally end the long play-off drought. If Klopas can keep the likes of Shaqiri and Cuypers injury-free then the Fire could be the most improved team this season.