The Chicago Stars announced Wednesday that the club fired head coach Martin Sjögren and assistant coach Anders Jacobson. Karina Báez, who served as an assistant coach for the Stars for three seasons, will serve as interim assistant coach for the remainder of the 2026 National Women’s Soccer League season.
Additionally, former Stars head coach Lorne Donaldson will return as interim director of coaching for the remainder of the season, “overseeing all technical and analytical aspects.” Nicole Lukic joins as a full-time assistant coach after most recently serving as head coach of the now disbanded USL Super League team Spokane Zephyr FC and director of talent identification for U.S. women’s national teams. Her role will be focused on individual player development.
Sjögren departs Chicago after less than a season in charge, having joined prior to the start of the 2026 season after being hired in August 2025. Under Sjögren, the Stars recorded a 4-13-1 record for a total of 12 points while sitting last in the league standings. Jacobson was brought on alongside Sjögren as a longtime colleague and served as interim head coach from September 2025 through the end of the 2025 season while Sjögren completed his head coaching responsibilities with Hammarby IF for the remainder of the year.
Interim head coach Báez spent several years in Liga MX Femenil, serving as an assistant coach with both Pachuca and Tigres before being named head coach of Pumas UNAM Femenil, leading the team through the 2021-22 season.
This move continues Chicago’s coaching carousel since longtime head coach Rory Dames resigned after the 2021 playoffs (shortly before a Washington Post report detailed allegations of years of abuse and then being banned from the NWSL for life after the Yates report). Since then, Chicago has had three head coaches broken up by four, now five, seperate interim head coaches.
