Sources: Chicago Fire Hiring Gregg Berhalter
The Chicago Fire are hiring Gregg Berhalter as director of football and head coach, sources confirmed to MIR97 Media.
Paul Tenorio of The Athletic first broke the story this morning.
Berhalter, 51, will return to the sidelines for the first time since his U.S. Men’s National Team dismissal over the summer. The former USMNT defender has continued to live in Chicago since leaving the national team job.
Berhalter replaces both outgoing sporting director Georg Heitz and head coach Frank Klopas, both of whom will leave their roles with one year left on their contracts. Heitz is moving to sister club FC Lugano as a director, while Klopas is expected to remain within the Fire organization in a different capacity as vice president of football.
The hiring of Berhalter – one of the most desirable American coaches today – represents a big boost for a Fire team seeking to re-establish itself among the top teams in Major League Soccer. Prior to taking the USMNT job in 2018, Berhalter coached Hammarby in Sweden and the Columbus Crew, who reached the Eastern Conference final in his last season.
Berhalter’s recent stint with the U.S. National Team had plenty of highs and lows over the course of five years — after thrilling victories in the CONCACAF Nations League and CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2021, he guided the U.S. back to the World Cup and reached the round of 16.
However, since his contract was renewed in June of last year, the team has struggled. Things reached a breaking point with a miserable showing at this summer’s Copa América, a group stage exit on home soil embarrassing enough to cost Berhalter his job just two years out from the World Cup.
A chaotic summer in 2024, including a 5-1 loss to Colombia and a 2-1 upset defeat to Panama, overshadowed what was a largely successful initial tenure and reasonably impressive World Cup performance in 2022.
Over the course of his national team tenure, Berhalter led the team to a 44–17–13 record, winning three trophies. Despite the high win percentage, he only managed to win against two top 20-ranked opponents: Iran and Mexico (four times). In total, including the routine wins over arch-rival Mexico, Berhalter’s record against top-20 opponents was 5–8–7.
The Fire hope that Berhalter's experience at both the club and international levels will enable him to guide the team to a turnaround in fortunes after several difficult seasons. The Fire just extended the league's longest-active playoff drought to seven seasons, with their last postseason appearance coming all the way back in 2017.
