The Chicago Red Stars, a founding member of the National Women’s Soccer League, competed under that name and visual identity from 2009 through the 2024 season. In October 2024, the club announced its first major brand transformation in nearly 20 years, rebranding as Chicago Stars Football Club with a new crest that launched at the start of the 2025 season. [1]
Design and History
The name Chicago Red Stars was chosen in 2009 as a tribute to the four stars found on the Chicago city flag. The club’s original crest also paid tribute to the city flag with its colors and stripes. That crest was modified once in 2017, but kept the familiar elements of the Chicago flag intact. [1] The 2017 redesign was described as a modernized version of the previous crest with crisp fonts and simplified geometries, inspired directly by the Chicago flag. The same update introduced a secondary “C” logo with a six-point star at its center, tying the club to the tradition of other Chicago sports teams. [2]
The 2024 rebrand to Chicago Stars FC was developed with creative agency Rabe X Birch, who helped design the new crest, and Ona Creative, who assisted with the launch. [1] The club’s chief marketing officer described the goal as creating something “fresh, clean, modern and yet also timeless.” [3] The Red Stars name and crest remained in use through the remainder of the 2024 season before the full transition to the new brand. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The new Chicago Stars FC crest retains a red star at its center, referencing the Chicago flag. Similar to the stars on the Chicago flag that represent meaningful moments in city history, the star at the center of the crest represents the club’s players: past, present and future. [1] The curved shape at the top of the crest is meant to resemble the marquees found across Chicago, including those of the Chicago Theatre and Wrigley Field. [1]
The blues that fill the crest hold a subtle nod to the city, as the adjoining of the “Night Sky” and “Great Lake” blues symbolize the meeting between land and lake. [1] The crest retains the light blue, which keeps the connection to Chicago iconography and the city’s flag, while the contrasting navy blue is supposed to represent Lake Michigan and the Chicago sky. [3]
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