The last professional soccer club to play in the Chicago area was the
Chicago Sting, who played in the
original NASL from 1974 to 1983, and then in the
Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 to 1988. The Sting won two
Soccer Bowl championships: in
1981 and again in
1984. The Chicago Fire were one of two new MLS expansion teams to join MLS in 1998, and the first two ever expansion teams in league history, the other team being the now-defunct
Miami Fusion. The Fire were founded on October 8, 1997, on the 126th anniversary of the
Great Chicago Fire. The club was named after the event. The club focused on recruiting players of various descent to reflect on the diversity of the region. The team brought in Polish players
Piotr Nowak,
Jerzy Podbrożny, and
Roman Kosecki; the Mexican
Jorge Campos; and the Czech
Luboš Kubík. == Club ==