Chicago Fire FC is an American professional soccer club based in Chicago, Illinois, competing in Major League Soccer (MLS). The club’s visual identity has undergone two significant transformations since its founding in 1997, with the current crest debuting for the 2022 season.
Design and History
The club’s original badge, used from its inaugural 1998 season, was based on the Florian cross, a symbol widely used by firefighters, with a stylized “C” at its center. That mark remained in place for over two decades until the club announced a full rebrand in November 2019.[1]
On November 21, 2019, Chicago Fire FC unveiled a new primary badge and brand identity ahead of its 2020 move to Soldier Field. The club also formally changed its name from Chicago Fire Soccer Club to Chicago Fire Football Club, with “Chicago Fire FC” appearing on the badge itself.[2] The new oval-shaped logo featured blue, gold and red colors with inverted flames forming the shape of a crown, a concept the club called the “Fire Crown.”[3] The badge, secondary marks and a new typeface were designed by creative agency Doubleday & Cartwright following a branding exercise that included consultation, focus groups and surveys with fans, partners, staff and MLS conducted over more than 18 months.[2]
The Fire Crown badge proved short-lived. In January 2021, owner Joe Mansueto announced the club would develop an all-new visual identity, acknowledging that fans had made their voices heard over the previous year.[4] The reaction to the Fire Crown logo had been largely negative when it was unveiled in November 2019.[5]
On June 18, 2021, the club unveiled its current primary crest and visual identity, crafted by soccer identity specialist Matthew Wolff. The project was directly inspired by more than 20,000 Fire fans, supporters and Chicagoans who contributed through roundtables, website submissions, surveys and social media responses. Wolff spent more than six months exclusively focused on the project.[6] The Fire Crown badge remained in use through the end of the 2021 season, with the new crest entering full use at the start of the 2022 preseason.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current crest’s primary elements, a six-pointed star contained within the letter “C” surrounded by a modernized Florian cross incorporating the Chicago city flag colors, were the most commonly requested items across all fan touchpoints during the design process.[6] A pointed notch on the back of the “C” and the use of the Florian cross are both nods to similar features in the original club badge.[6]
The club also documented that the “C” at the center of the new crest was built on a grid system and constructed using 45-degree and 90-degree angles, a design decision referencing Chicago’s rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1871. The use of color in the crest was directly inspired by the color structure of the Chicago city flag, in which red and flag blue are fully separated by white.[6]
The earlier Fire Crown badge, by contrast, was built around a mirrored icon with flames inverted to become a crown, telling the story of a dramatic rebirth and a city’s triumph after the Great Fire of 1871.[2]
Typography and Design
In addition to the primary crest, Matthew Wolff designed a custom wordmark and two secondary marks for the 2021 identity project: a stylized municipal device surrounded by six star points, another nod to the original Fire badge, and a mark featuring the word “FIRE” separated by two flag blue bars. The latter was inspired by the tattoo of longtime Fire supporter Pattrick Stanton.[6]
The 2019 Fire Crown identity also included a new typeface designed by Doubleday & Cartwright as part of the full brand system.[2]
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