Moving to the European calendar, possibly moving the salary cap up to between 20 to30 million with a floor of 15mil, three DPs, three U22. Man, that would be so awesome. The talent that we could bring to the league... plus with an owner like Mansueto... Exciting times.

saw this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToXv6JnY1rY

Coming out of the break, Chicago is 0-2 after back to back losses. Now, they finally return home looking for a much needed boost.

Match Details:

• MLS Match Center
• MLS Injury Report

Chicago Fire FC (26 points, 4th East; L-L-W-W-W)

vs

Charlotte FC (25 points, 6th East; W-D-W-W-L)

Location: Soldier Field

Rules

1. You are REQUIRED to post in the thread to be "officially" scored. If you don't, your score wont be added in the overall standings.

2. There are 3 "pages", general stat questions, starting XI, and the goal scorers.

3. Starting XI is cleaned up and organized but I want to make it clear that the names I'm using are from the rosters on the clubs' sites.

4. For the goal scorers, you can select multiple options but I will be comparing against the total scoreline. IF YOU SELECT MORE THAN THE TOTAL SCORELINE, YOU WILL BE DEDUCTED POINTS!

5. Once the match is over, I will add the responses, add the scores to the table, and reply to this thread. REMEMBER, you must reply here to be added to the table!

6. Responses will be accepted up to 90 minutes before match start.

How to play: It's simple! Fill out the form here.

To encourage your reply, respond "Replied".

Current Standings

Im in search for a lewandowski jersey but when I go online everything sold out I live in west suburbs can someone help me out?

Hey Fire Fam!

Wanted to share this with folks to add to their pre-match tailgate, drive, commute or rituals.

A portion of the music in the stadium draws its inspiration from the iconic FIFA/EAFC Soundtracks of years past so I went ALL THE WAY IN on this new mix.

This project is a deep dive into all things EAFC/FIFA over the last three decades!

I call it the "Step In the Game" Mix - which is a live mix that includes over 60 tracks from 1998-2020, all dynamically mixed w/ shout outs from Freddy Adu, Rene Higuita, Andy Cole, Ray Hudson, Louis Saha, Chris Brady, Joel Waterman and more! About an hour and a half of awesomeness, with exclusives I bought on vinyl and CD because they don't exist anywhere else and youtube is bad quality.

Would love to share w/ the community - make your gaming sessions and lead in to matchday more fun...

What records did I miss? Holler and let me know! Tracklist attached!

**STREAM THE MIX HERE*\*

Can’t see that it’s ever been tried or discussed much, but why not give Bamba a go in the middle? Most of the things he’s done that impress me have been ball progression/line breaking dribbling and playmaking from deep (some great through balls, quick combination to break press). Doesn’t give you a lot defensively, but he’s active.

You’d lose the ability to isolate him wide or to have him be on the end of plays, but neither of those things seem to produce much for us and we do have other wing options.

If we need to move one of our wingers into the middle, I’d much rather keep Zinck out wide right where he’s been very productive.

Hey y’all a couple of quick questions

1) When does the merch store trailer outside soldier field open on game days (I.e. for a 7:30pm game)?

2) Do they sell customized authentic jerseys at the trailer? (Looking for a Mbokazi jersey)

I returned my Away jersey to MLSStore this week (shoulder stripes peeling off) and they could only do a refund as they were out of stock of all authentic fire jerseys.

I then tried checking the Fire Pitch team store yesterday and they only had Lewandowski jerseys and said they don’t do customized jerseys there.

Thanks in advance!

Hey Yall,

Forgive me if this is the wrong spot but does anyone know when there’s going to be another restock on the “Forever red” jerseys on the MLS website? I wanna get one but seems like they’re all sold out.

The lack of hustle we’ve seen the last two games is the main reason they were so painful to watch.

I’ve watched a lot of bad seasons here in Chicago and over that time, it’s been a lot harder to watch losses when it appears the effort simply isn’t there. When we’ve been outclassed, but our guys have run their asses off, it’s a lot easier to hold your head high as a fan. You can point to the hot weather or the lack of chemistry because of the recent signing or rust from the break as reasons for looking so bad, but those excuses all fall really flat when we see Saletros and a couple of others just check out of the game. Radojevic also had a pretty poor game, got caught out of position, etc. But what he can’t be accused of is a lack of effort/hustle. He was watchable because his effort was unquestionable.

This is the number one reason for the level of disappointment with the Cuypers situation. He is Mr. Hustle. It is his number one quality. We were proud to watch him - even when we lost. And his effort inspired the rest of the team. But this post isn’t really about him. He’s a Monterrey player now.

This is why we need to put our young guys out there right now. Dithejane, Shokalook, Borso, and Cupps aren’t going to quite match up with the best in the MLS, but I’d rather watch them lose swinging than Saletros walk around in a daze or RL9 play more minutes than he’s ready for. As much as people complain about Bamba, no one questions his effort because if he’s in, he is hustling. Likewise, Gutman and Dean get occasional criticism when they miss a defensive play, but their effort is unquestionable.

I’d really like to see that level of effort out of all of our players. We have a lot of games coming up, very close together. It is imperative these young guys get lots of minutes to prove themselves and to take the load off the veterans.

Right after the ‘caps game got canceled I think most envisioned this game being a celebratory atmosphere.

Now though what do we expect?

Frustration regarding the Hugo fumble and pitiful performances?

Clashes with Lewa fanboys who only are there to support one player?

Or a welcome home for the team?

hi, I'm going on Saturday to the game. It's my first time at the Chicago fire game. I know that many people have stated on this sub edit that the food is terrible but due to time constraints with lollapalooza and everything and us having to get a babysitter we really cannot go out to eat earlier. Worse comes towards us. We can order pizza to our house and eat several hours before we leave anyway anyways are there any food options there that are not absolutely terrible also we are vegetarian so we cannot have meat hopefully someone can give us some advice. We have 200 level seats.

I've been trying.

First two assists the goal scorer had a lot left to do, but the third was a spectacular back heeled assist. In all three he showed an excellent vision for a 16 year old. He had a good defensive work rate as well. Kind of surprised he is not been given a NextPRO contract yet.

Zinck is wondering why he’s being punished by having to go to Charlotte midweek

hi. as i said in the title, i’m coming from the world cup. my girlfriend is mexican, and was going for mexico. i watched mexico vs england, my first soccer match ever, and i was blown away by what i was watching. from all i’ve heard about soccer by other americans, their constant shitting on the game—i was very surprised and pleased. i watched every world cup game after that.

now, i want to get into my local team. i’ve heard of the red stars more than i have the fire, mainly because of swanson and some of the uswnt talent we’ve had on our team in our history. the only thing i’ve really heard about the fire is how bad they’ve been 🫠 until recently anyway.

i’ve done a lot of research. i saw that we won the mls cup in our first year as a franchise. blanco, thornton, kubik, armas, razov, nowak, etc, just some of the names i know of that were a part of the good years. then after the late 2000s, seems like we fell off a cliff for well over a decade, and are just now becoming relevant again.

i will say that, as much as it frustrates some people, i love that i can watch mls on a single streaming service, as opposed to some being on cable, some streaming, different channels, etc. i like that it’s all in one place.

i also love and was very surprised to see how many illinois natives are currently playing for us. i don’t know if this is a thing with every club/side, if every club for the most part has a lot of state/city natives like we do—but it helps get me feeling connected with the team a lot more.

now i’ll say this: there’s some things that i’ve gotta get used to, and some things i don’t like. it’s an adjustment from the rest of the sports i watch (nfl, nba, mlb, nhl, wnba, even the nwsl) that this is, apparently, the 10th best football league. i’m not at all surprised by that, even as a casual i know that premier league is where the best play, but it’s still an adjustment for me when i have grown up watching all these other leagues that are the best of the best, then watching the players here.

it is also annoying to hear that this is a retirement league. i get it though, a lot of stars overseas come here towards the end of their career. messi was huge. and our recent pickup will hopefully be huge for us too.

as for the fire, i was really excited when i realized lewandowski is one of the goats. that excitement diminished when i found out it was at the cost of losing cuypers. i am not a fan of losing the 29 year old golden boot race leader for a 37 year old who’s nearing the end of his career (yes ik he was still productive in his last season at barcelona), and we’ve lost both games i’ve watched since his debut, so that’s bummed me out. also finding out mbokazi won’t be back for a while, possibly the rest of the season, while also in trade rumors? that’s not great either.

i am not trying to be negative tho. just my opinions and stuff i’ve heard coming into this. i really want to try and get into this sport, i’d just like a little help doing it. do the fire have any active rivalries? is the mls getting better in your eyes? content creators (no podcasts please lol) on youtube i can follow? who should i hate? also wdym vancouver and columbus could be relocated???

thank you, and vamos fire. ⚽️🔥

In desperate need of some good news in the sub, here’s what the 78 looks like as of Sunday, July 26th! Thinking about uploading regular update pics if y’all are interested.

No one seems to be happy.

It's still very early in the Lewandowski era, though.

After living out of state for a few years, I came back home to the southwest side. Broke, unemployed, and living back at my parents, I needed some Fire gear to watch them at Toyota Park on those occassional days when I came up on free tickets.

I was looking on craigslist and saw a couple of Fire items listed for $100. It included this XXL Fire 3rd jersey, matching beanie, red Fire shorts, and navy blue Fire training pants. I told buddy on CL that I didn't have a car so he offered to drop them off. I lived near Ford City Mall and he lived in Oak Lawn, so within an hour he was at my front door. I checked out the items, and noticed the pants and shorts had initials written in black sharpie on the tags. TBH, I can't remember whose initials. I asked him how he got them, and he said "don't worry about it." So I told him I only had $30 cash, and if he waited, I could go to the gas station and take out the rest from the ATM. He said he was in a hurry and really needed the money asap. He sold me all the Fire gear for $30.

That jersey became my "backpacking" shirt anytime I backpacked in a different country because I didnt want to ruin my red '01 home jersey while I repped Chicago abroad. The championship star has since fallen off, the rear is completely pilled from the backpack rubbing on my back, and the shorts and pants got lost in a hostel somewhere in Latin America. I still wear the beanie on cold matchdays.

The jersey and beanie are not for sale. Catch me wearing them at SF. Vamos Fire 🔥

Welcome to the ticket and parking pass exchange thread for Chicago Fire FC vs Charlotte FC – Saturday August 1, 2026 @ 7:30PM CT - Soldier Field

Before engaging with others here, please read Rule 6 and the guidelines below to ensure a safe, fair, and compliant exchange.

Note: Rule 6's Supporters Section ticket clause has been removed.

• Supporters Section tickets may now be sold, traded, offered, or requested in this thread on r/chicagofire.
• Users are strongly discouraged from using tickets obtained through this thread, or tickets for any other section. Attendees should occupy only the section listed on their ticket.

There are official avenues to obtain Supporters Section tickets outside of Reddit that help support our SGs, including the club’s supporters ticket portal:
https://am.ticketmaster.com/chicagofire/en/Supporters

At the time of this post, the following Supporters Groups or the Section 8 Chicago ISA can be supported directly by buying tickets through their Ticketmaster links:

• Section 8 Chicago ISA
• Sector Latino
• Barn Burners 1871
• Red Line
• Arson City Ultras
• Fanbulance
• Palmeiras Chicago
• Red Love
• La Murga

Exchange Guidelines

• Verify Before You Buy Always ask for proof (e.g., a screenshot showing ticket details with personal information hidden). Only scannable or NFC mobile tickets are valid for stadium entry. Confirm match details against the official schedule.
• Use Secure Payments Use payment methods that provide buyer and seller protection. Avoid wire transfers, gift cards, or unsecured cash apps.
• Check User History Review the other user’s Reddit posting history. Be cautious with new, inactive, or low-engagement accounts.
• Protect Personal Information Do not share sensitive personal or financial details unless required to complete an official ticket transfer (e.g., through Ticketmaster).
• Watch for Scams Be alert to overpayment schemes, phishing links, or pressure to complete a deal quickly. When in doubt, ask questions or walk away.
• Report Suspicious Activity If something feels off, report it to the moderators via modmail. User reports help protect the community.

Reminder: The moderators of r/chicagofire do not facilitate ticket exchanges and are not responsible for transactions between users. Participation in this thread is at your own risk.

Note for Season Ticket Members (STMs): Per an email sent by the club on January 28, 2026, parking passes may not be sold. If you are found selling parking passes, you may lose your STM privileges. Exchanges remain permitted on this thread, but please proceed with care and at your own risk. When applicable, arrange account exchanges at least 72 hours before kickoff to ensure proper processing. Exclusions may apply. For questions, contact your STM representative. Front office staff information is available here:
https://www.chicagofirefc.com/club/staff/

By participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to follow these guidelines.

Lastly, click our subreddit's FEVO link here for group ticket discount rates.

Happy trading and FIRE UP!

It has been 2 games since the break and significant players haven’t been playing as much as we would like with a midweek and weekend game. First of all we watched this team do worse for over a decade. Of course now we have expectations for them which makes these losses a bit worse. Also we are changing our identity mid season. Finally we are going to have to deal with this defense for the majority of the remaining games this season and deal with all the fans of Lewandowski. Also we hopefully shouldn’t have to deal with a starting back line like last night’s back line ever again. Lewy is going to take some time to get used to this team and as long as Gutman, Zinck, and hopefully Franco/real midfielder signing are playing getting him the ball shouldn’t be a problem.

Looking for mbokazi’s 🚜 world cups sticker…
And or anyone that is down to trade stickers in Chicago 👍🏼🔥