Coach Dave Sarachan

The Chicago Fire is a soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois that participates in Major League Soccer. The club was founded October 8th, 1997 on the 126th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The Fire won the MLS Cup in 1998, their first season in the league. It also won the 1998, 2000, and 2003 editions of the US Open Cup. The Fire played at Soldier Field from 1998-2001. It played at North Central College's Cardinal Stadium in the suburb of Naperville in 2002, moving back to the remodeled Soldier Field late in October 2003 and will move to Bridgeview Stadium at 71st and Harlem Avenue for the 2006 season.

Since 2001, the Fire and its chief rival F.C. Dallas (originally the Dallas Burn) play for the Brimstone Cup, which goes to the team that wins the season series between the two clubs.

The Chicago Fire has had a cooperative agreement with Monarcas Morelia, a Mexican First Division football club, since 2001. The partnership incorporates playing, coaching, and executive personnel; as well as sharing of business and development practices. The club also has (in its reserves program, Chicago Fire Premier collegiate amateur team, and Chicago Fire Juniors youth club) a substantial youth development scheme by American standards; as well as a charitable community entity, the FireWorks for Kids Foundation.

Notably, there is a considerable ultras culture for the club, relatively unique in North America. Ultras groups and fan clubs occupy an area loosely referred to as Section 8 which stems from both the numbering of the original sector of Soldier Field they occupied, as well as the American military designation of discharged soldiers declared mentally unfit for service. Section 8 Chicago, the Independent Supporters' Association for the club, oversees the activities of the various groups which include Barn Burners 1871 (the oldest group, established before the club was founded), Fire Ultras '98 (a Polish ultras group), Ultras Red-Side (a newer multiethnic ultras group), Sector Latino (a latin "barra"-style group that often sits separate from Section 8), Mike Ditka Steet Crew, and Arsonists.
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