There is a change atop the Chicago Fire but not the one most would expect after the team finished 10-15-9 and missed the playoffs for a fifth straight season.
The Fire on Tuesday announced they picked up the contract options of sporting director Georg Heitz and technical director Sebastian Pelzer, who will return in 2023 for their fourth seasons with the club.
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Meanwhile, team President Ishwara Glassman Chrein will leave the Fire for what the club said was a desire to be closer to her family in New York.
“Ishwara expressed her desire to move on from her position in order to be closer to her family, and I was supportive of that decision,” owner and Chairman Joe Mansueto said in a statement. “I’ve enjoyed working with Ishwara and have appreciated all her efforts to grow the business side of the club. We wish Ishwara and her family all the best for the future.”
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Glassman Chrein joined the Fire in June 2021 from Yahoo Sports/Verizon Media, with whom she was the head of sports partnerships and business development. Martin Blaser, the CEO of partner club FC Lugano in Switzerland, will serve as interim president of business operations.
Heitz and Pelzer joined the Fire in December 2019 and were given less than a month to construct a team before the 2020 preseason began. That hasty roster construction — combined with the pandemic — resulted in a 5-10-8 season.
The duo declined to do another overhaul entering 2021, opting for “continuity” that resulted in a 9-18-7 season. Coach Raphael Wicky was fired toward the end of the season as the Fire embarked on yet another rebuild.
Heitz and Pelzer tabbed Ezra Hendrickson to be the 10th coach in Fire history, giving the longtime MLS veteran and assistant his first top-flight head coaching position. The Fire spent big money — they had one of the highest payrolls, according to the Major League Soccer Players Association — and made designated player Xherdan Shaqiri the league’s second-highest-paid player.
But the results in Hendrickson’s first season were marginally better than under Wicky as the Fire went 10-15-9.
Hendrickson on Monday told reporters he was looking forward to working with Heitz and Pelzer for another season.
“I have worked really well with them and they are willing to do what it takes to bring in the right players to get this thing where we need it to be,” Hendrickson said. “If I look forward to next year, it’s playoffs. Playoffs is a must. We have to do what it takes to get this team back into the playoffs.
“Even this year, the beginning of the year, trying to rebuild this thing, we have shown at times that we can play with the top teams and we can really, really compete and be in the playoffs. But we just are not quite there yet, and I think with these guys’ help we’ll get the right players in here to get this team back to where we belong.”
