On Aug. 12, the NWSL’s Chicago Stars FC announced they were parting ways with their current coaching staff. After dismissing head coach Martin Sjögren and assistant coach Anders Jacobson, Chicago named Karina Báez as their interim head coach for the rest of the season. She made history as the first Mexican woman to serve as the head coach of an NWSL team. Alongside Báez, the Stars rehired Lorne Donaldson as the interim director of coaching and brought on Nicole Lukic as a full-time assistant coach.
The Chicago Stars have struggled throughout the regular season as they currently sit at No. 16 in the NWSL standings. However, the Stars got their first win under Báez on Aug. 23. This marked their first victory in 50 days and 7-straight losses.
“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,” said Karen Leetzow, president of the Chicago Stars.
Despite the recent promotion, Báez is no stranger to the Stars’ locker room. She started in an analytics role and has been coaching in Chicago for three seasons. Before coming to the NWSL, she served as the head coach of the Pumas Femenil, a professional women’s football club in Mexico.
The Stars also brought back another familiar face in Donaldson. For two seasons, Donaldson served as the head coach in Chicago and is the former head coach of the Jamaica women’s national team. In this role throughout the rest of the season, he will oversee all technical and analytical aspects of the game.
While Báez and Donaldson have interim titles, the Stars named Lukic as a full-time assistant coach. She has previous head coaching experience with other professional and pre-professional women’s soccer teams. Before her most recent stop with Spokane Zephyr, she was named 2022 USL W League Coach of the Year with the Minnesota Aurora FC.
Chicago will look to gain some momentum as they head into the back half of the season with a new coaching staff. For their first game in almost a month, the Stars will travel to Colorado to take on the Denver Summit on Aug. 29. They will return home to face the North Carolina Courage on Sept. 7.
Featured image via @pumasmxfeminil
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