With executives calling Madison’s professional soccer team “a big club” and “completely professional,” Chicago Fire FC of Major League Soccer officially announced that Forward Madison FC would be its United Soccer League affiliate for the 2020 season.
The affiliation will allow the Fire to loan players to Forward Madison for a game or two or, in some cases, for longer stretches of the season. That gives younger Fire players a chance to develop and learn while giving Madison fans MLS-caliber talent to root for.
The partnership also includes a friendly at Breese Stevens Field against the Fire in July.
The partnership was announced in a press release Thursday afternoon and consummated with shots of malort — a favorite drink of Chicagoans — chased with locally brewed beer from Vintage Brewing Company in front of about 200 fans.
Fire FC Sporting Director Georg Heitz, Technical Director Sebastian Pelzer and Senior Director of Soccer Operations Eddie Rock were on hand to address fans and answer questions. All had high praise for Forward Madison, its management and its supporters.
“We really have a good feeling because we’ve talked for a while with these people here and we know that (Head Coach) Daryl (Shore) is really a true professional and the management of the club is professional,” Heitz said.
“One of the things when we looked at why Madison was a perfect partnership was, it’s a real big club. It really is,” Rock said. “You get just short of 5,000 (fans per) game. There’s a real atmosphere here. When we want our young players to develop, they need to be put under that type of pressure. And that means engaging with the community, you know, acting like a professional, being a role model, but also being able to perform in an environment where the crowd’s on you. That’s why we think it’s such an ideal partnership. This is a real big club and we’re really proud to be working with you guys.”
The partnership is similar to one Forward Madison had with Minnesota United last year, who sent goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and forward Mason Toye for several games early in the season, midfielder Abo Danladi for one game and defenders Wyatt Omsberg and Carter Manely for longer stretches. Shore said he expects something similar with Chicago, with geographic proximity making things easier logistically.
“With Chicago being two hours away, it’s just so much easier,” Shore said. “If they need to get a player some minutes it’s easier to get them up here to train with us for more than just 24 hours or 48 hours. And likewise, if they need a player of ours for training purposes or anything, it’s easy to get them down.”
Shore said Forward Madison has built a roster that won’t necessarily need to rely on MLS loanees.
“We have a team that we feel is a good team right now,” Shore said. “With the players the Fire are going to send us, it’s added gravy now and creates more competition within our players.”
Forward Madison General Manager Connor Caloia hinted at one position in particular that might benefit. He noted that Forward Madison currently has only one goalkeeper on its roster — Brandon Barnes, who did not see any action in league play last year — but Chicago Fire has five.
Shore and Fire executives both said it’s not yet decided which players might be candidates for a longer-term loan.
Shore, who was an assistant coach with the Fire from 2000-2010, said the Fire players and coaching staff know loanees will have to compete for minutes, too, and won’t get any special treatment.
“Just because their players come doesn’t mean they automatically start,” Shore said. “They’ve got to come in, they’ve got to earn their time in training. That’s the beauty about having young players coming from them. They’ve got to learn how to be professionals. At the same time, when you have players coming from MLS, you would hope that the standard is a good level and that they’re going to integrate and be a big part of our club.”
Heitz echoed that sentiment.
“If we send them here, we ask that they are the best players here,” he said. “This is why they are in an MLS club. They have to prove (themselves) here.”
Chicago Fire FC joined MLS in 1998, and started with an unprecedented success — the expansion steam won both the MLS Cup and US Open Cup in its first year. It has reached the MLS playoffs 11 more times, most recently in 2017, and won three more US Open Cups since, in 2000, 2003 and 2006. The Fire were 10-12-12 in 2019 and is 2-2 in the early going this season.
Forward Madison opens USL League One play at Richmond on March 28. Its first home match comes on April 8 as it hosts a second-round US Open Cup match against either Chicago FC United or Minneapolis City FC, with its first home league match against Toronto FC II on April 11.
