Chicago Stars FC fire head coach Lorne Donaldson six games into NWSL season

The former Jamaica national team manager is out of a job six games into the NWSL campaign

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Chicago Stars announced they parted ways with head coach Lorne Donaldson on Wednesday. Assistant coach Masaki Hemmi will serve as the team’s interim head coach while the team searched for Donaldson’s replacement

  Donaldson was in his second year with the NWSL side, after a promising 2024 campaign saw them finish 10-14-2 in the regular season while clinching a spot in the NWSL playoffs, after finishing at the bottom of the table in 2023. However, after a 1-5-0 start to the 2025 season, Donaldson is now out of a job.

  “We are grateful to Lorne Donaldson for the culture, respect, and sense of self-belief he helped build within our squad,” the team’s general manager, Richard Feuz, said in a statement. “We appreciate his work and wish him the best for the future.”

NWSL

North Carolina Courage
North Carolina Courage
2025-05-17T21:00:00.000Z17:00

Chicago Stars
Chicago Stars
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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Donaldson was previously the manager of the Jamaica women's national team, where he led them to become the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the knockout stage Round of 16 during the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

  Donaldson's firing marks the third coaching change the Stars will have over the past four seasons.

  The Stars have struggled in 2025, highlighted by the absence of USWNT star Mallory Swanson, who has been away from the club since January. The forward has been away from the team for unspecified personal reasons.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Hemmi will work alongside assistant coaches Ella Masar, Karina Báez, and Brenton Saylor. Masar, a former Stars player, served as interim head coach in 2023.

• WHAT NEXT FOR CHICAGO?

  Their head coach search is now well underway, while they return to the pitch this weekend to take on Gotham FC.