The Chicago Stars fired head coach Marin Sjögren and assistant coach Anders Jacobson, the club announced Wednesday.The Stars are in last place in the NWSL, with their last win on July 5 against the Utah Royals. Assistant coach Karina Báez will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the regular season.Sjögren departs the Stars with a 4-1-13 record and a -24 goal differential, with the club in last place.The Stars also brought back former head coach Lorne Donaldson as the interim director of coaching to oversee the technical staff for the rest of the season as Chicago tries to salvage what’s left of the year.“This is a group of players I truly care about, and I’m very happy to return to the Chicago Stars for the next several months,” Donaldson said in a news release. “I’m excited to reunite with some familiar faces, for the opportunity to meet new players, and I look forward to working together with the staff to earn some wins in the final stretch of the season.”
Finally, the Stars announced the hiring of Nicole Lukic as a new assistant coach. Lukic formerly served as the head coach of USL Super League side Spokane Zephyr and was also the first head coach for USL-W side Minnesota Aurora.“We are determined to make our club a serious contender in the NWSL and have a plan in place to do so beginning now and leading into the 2027 season,” club president Karen Leetzow said Wednesday in the news release.The Stars fired general manager Richard Fuez in May after a rough start to the season with only three wins. Since then, they’ve only added a single win to the tally, upsetting the Royals 3-2 on July 5. They are still operating without a general manager — with Beatrice Caliani serving as assistant GM.Following Fuez’s departure, Leetzow told reporters that the team wanted to be competitive. “You want to be in playoff contention,” she said. “But at the very least, you need to have a compelling product on the pitch.”Donaldson’s return to the club is a bit surprising since the club moved on from him in April 2025. After the team finished last in 2023, Donaldson helped elevate them into the playoffs in 2024 despite a 10-14-2 record. He returned, according to a source familiar with the decision-making process, to help stabilize the organization from a technical standpoint. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly and protect their relationships with coaches.With Donaldson re-entering as a familiar presence to staff and players, he may offer a reset to the team’s culture for 2027.
