Fire Academy 2004s: Where are they now?

The Chicago Fire Academy has emerged as one of MLS’s leading talent factories in recent seasons. Earlier this year, a club-record six academy graduates started a league game, while several homegrowns have been key contributors in a number of positions.

One of the strongest age groups for the Fire Academy of recent times was the 2004 birth year. While nationally, the 2004s have struggled as an age group, numerous players from the Fire continue to play at a high level.

Today, we take a look back at the Fire U-15 team that travelled to Poland for the BellSport Cup and won the trophy ahead of several strong European academies.

Gaga Slonina (Chelsea FC)

One of two top-prospect goalkeepers the Fire took to Poland, Slonina signed an MLS Homegrown contract shortly after the trip and broke into the first team by 2021. Over two seasons, he made 43 appearances before earning a big-money move to English giants Chelsea in August 2022 for an initial $10 million fee — one of the biggest sales in MLS history and, at the time, the Fire’s record outgoing transfer.

Though he’s yet to appear for Chelsea beyond preseason friendlies, Slonina has spent time on loan at Eupen and Barnsley and is currently the club’s fourth goalkeeper at the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup. He made his senior USMNT debut in 2023 and went to both the 2023 Gold Cup and 2024 Olympics, but remains outside the national team picture for now as he looks to reignite his trajectory in the next cycle.

Chris Brady (Chicago Fire)

The other exciting goalkeeper on the Poland trip was Brady, who at that point was just one year removed from joining the Fire Academy in the first place. At the tournament in Poland, Brady and Slonina split minutes in goal and didn't concede a single goal across 10 matches. By early 2020, he too was a homegrown signing, though he had to wait until October 2022 to make his MLS debut.

Now, Brady is the Fire’s undisputed #1, the USMNT’s #3 goalkeeper at the Gold Cup, and one of the top shot-stoppers in MLS. He’s made 82 first team appearances for the Chicago Fire, and is the first goalkeeper to be the starter for successive seasons in a decade. The sky seems to be the limit for the now-21-year-old, who at the current moment is probably the most prominent player from this team.

Seth Stewart (Indiana)

Stewart is one of several players from this team who is currently playing college soccer, and he is entering his senior year at Indiana. He switched to FC United in 2019 before committing to the Hoosiers, where he has appeared 20 times between 2022 and 2024. He currently plays alongside fellow Fire Academy products Charlie Heuer, Michael Nesci, Luka Bezerra, and Easton Bogard.

Wyatt Borso (Notre Dame)

Borso will be a familiar name for Fire fans today, as Wyatt’s younger brother Dylan signed a homegrown contract in December and has featured for Fire II this season. The elder Borso had a great freshman season at Notre Dame in 2022, appearing 17 times in 2022, but has been riddled with injuries since then. While in South Bend, Borso has appeared alongside 2024 SuperDraft pick Bryan Dowd and worked under Director of Operations Chris Rolfe.

Ryan Quintos (Louisville)

Quintos spent the rest of his youth career with the Fire and featured prominently for Fire II in its debut season in 2022, making 22 appearances under Ludovic Taillandier. He then went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he featured alongside Trip Fleming and Dean Boltz for a Badgers team that accomplished very little. Quintos is transferring to Louisville for his junior year.

Bowen McCloud (Tulsa)

McCloud was also a part of the inaugural Fire II roster in 2022, but did not feature in MLS Next Pro. He then moved on to the University of Tulsa, where he has made 25 appearances across his first two seasons.

Justin Reynolds (Chicago Fire)

The younger Reynolds was crowned player of the tournament for the Poland trip and eventually signed a homegrown contract with the Fire in 2022. Now 20, Reynolds is on the fringes of the Fire’s first team and has 12 total appearances for the club.

In addition to two MLS games in 2025, Reynolds has been a regular fixture for the second team since it was created in 2022. In total, Reynolds has appeared 48 times in MLS Next Pro, contributing three goals and four assists, and has previously been called up to the U.S. U-19s. He also spent a half-season on loan at Lugano in 2024.

Marcel Ruszel (Stal Stalowa Wola)

Still just 20, Ruszel has had one of the weirdest careers of anyone on this list. Since leaving the Fire Academy in 2019 he has spent time at Sockers FC, Legia Warsaw, and FC Cincinnati, and appeared eight times for FC Cincy 2 before joining Torino’s youth teams in 2022.

In 2024, he joined Stal Stalowa Wola, who were, at the time, in the Polish second tier but have since been relegated to the third tier. He also appeared five times for the U.S. U-19s under Marko Mitrović (after previously representing Poland’s U-15s).

Christian Baumgartner (DePaul)

Baumgartner was a regular for Fire II in the 2022 MLS Next Pro season, making 10 appearances, but went off to college at the University of Kentucky. After one year, he returned to Chicago and has spent the last two seasons at DePaul, where he has been a starter.

Max Viera (Georgetown)

Viera was an exciting player during his academy days and continues to impress in the three years since he left the Fire. Injuries limited him to just two MLS Next Pro appearances in 2022 before he moved out east to study at Georgetown, where he’s been a key player since his freshman year.

From both a team and individual standpoint, 2024 was his best college season yet. He started 21 games for the Hoyas en route to a Big East Tournament title, picking up four assists along the way. Viera is in the right place if he has ambitions of going pro, as Georgetown has produced the most active MLS players of any school.

Antonio Costabile (Marquette)

Though he didn’t finish his academy career with the Fire, instead playing with Sockers FC, Costabile has played alongside several other academy products since joining Marquette. He’s played alongside Kyle Bebej and Mitar Mitrović there, and will soon be joined by current Fire II prospect Bryce Richards, who will become a Golden Eagle this fall. On the field, Costabile has 31 appearances in his first two seasons.

Costa Edlund (FC KTP)

One of three players in this list who is currently playing in Europe, Edlund moved abroad in 2022 when he joined Greek second-tier club Athens Kallithea. In 2024, he moved on loan to the Finnish second division, helping FC KTP to promotion. He returned to the scenic Finnish port city of Kotka for a second loan this year and has made nine Veikkausliiga appearances.

Noeh Hernández (DePaul)

Arguably the most decorated college player on the list, Hernández has been the central figure for DePaul since his freshman year in 2023. As a teenager, he made 19 MLS Next Pro appearances for Fire II before attending DePaul, where he’s contributed 13 goals and 11 assists in 30 games. Hernández claimed Big East Freshman of the Year honors in his first season before claiming the Big East Midfielder of the Year award in 2024, despite DePaul being terrible both times.

Internationally, Hernández has represented the Puerto Rican senior national team since he was with Fire II, and now has 18 caps. He has appeared in both World Cup Qualifying and Gold Cup Qualifying, scoring his first international goal against Aruba last fall.

Matija Mitrović (Vitória de Guimarães)

Easily the top outfield player on the list is Mitrović, who is rapidly writing an impressive European résumé since leaving Chicago in 2021. The central midfielder initially joined Serbian Super Liga club FK Voždovac, breaking through with the first team in 2023, and after they were relegated, he spent one year at FK Železničar Pančevo.

Mitrović’s performances in Pančevo earned him a move to Vitória de Guimarães, one of the top clubs in Portugal, for just under €1 million. It was a club-record sale for Železničar, and an exciting move for the 20-year-old, who will now play in a top-six European league. Mitrović is also a Serbian U-21 international, making five appearances to date.

Trip Fleming (Chicago Fire II)

The final player on the list is the first player to ever go to college and later return to sign a Fire II contract. Fleming was a key player for the second team in 2022 and 2023 before he went off to Wisconsin-Madison and played two seasons with the Badgers. In 30 appearances, Fleming totaled five goals and three assists, including a hat trick against UIC.

Since returning to Fire II, Fleming has been a top player for the second team. He has made eight appearances so far in MLS Next Pro, notching two goals and an assist. Additionally, he has trained with the first team on a handful of occasions.

Not Playing Soccer

There were a few other players on the Poland trip who, at least according to online resources, appear not to be playing soccer anymore. Those were Mathias Vallejo, Max Ibarra, and Demian Martínez. Vallejo most recently played in the Maltese Premier League with Hibernians, where he made three appearances. Ibarra is a coach at Ajax FC in Chicago alongside former Fire homegrown Victor Pineda. Martínez played soccer at IUPUI in 2023, but it shut down as an institution in 2024.