Chicago Stars FC announced on Wednesday that the club has fired Lorne Donaldson as head coach after the Stars lost five of their first six games of the season.
“We are grateful to Lorne Donaldson for the culture, respect and sense of self-belief he helped build within our squad,” Chicago Stars general manager Richard Feuz said.
“We appreciate his work and wish him the best for the future.”
Assistant coach Masaki Hemmi will serve as interim head coach while the Stars search for Donaldson’s replacement, the team said in a statement.
Donaldson is the first NWSL head coach to be fired this season.
Donaldson took over as head coach of the Stars ahead of the 2024 season, the team’s first full year under new majority owner Laura Ricketts, whose family owns MLB’s Chicago Cubs.
Donaldson led Chicago to the playoffs last year after the Stars finished in last place in 2023.
The team lost 4-1 in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Orlando Pride.
After the match, Donaldson said “obviously, we’ll look to get some better players,” adding that “there will be changes in our team, just like any other team.”
Instead of headline additions to the team, however, Donaldson and the Stars began 2025 without their franchise player, United States forward Mallory Swanson, who remains absent on personal leave.
The Stars have won once this season — a 2-1 victory over Bay FC on April 13 — and lost five times, including a 3-0 loss to San Diego Wave FC at home on Saturday.
They are currently in last place.
“We still know it’s early, but we can’t keep saying that,” Donaldson said last week ahead of the match against San Diego.
“We have to start getting results.”
Donaldson previously coached the Jamaica women’s national team, leading the Reggae Girlz to the knockout round of a World Cup for the first time in 2023.
He has extensive experience coaching at the youth level in Colorado, where he oversaw the development of several current-day USWNT players, including Swanson
