The Chicago Stars have dismissed coach Martin Sjögren after less than a season with the National Women’s Soccer League club.
Assistant Karina Báez will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season, the team said Wednesday.
The Stars (4-13-1) are in last place in the 16-team NWSL with a league-worst nine goals scored while allowing 33. They have a five-match winless streak entering Friday’s road game against the Seattle Reign.
Sjögren, the former coach of the Norway women’s national team, joined the Stars in January after a stint as coach for Hammarby in the Swedish Damallsvenskan.
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The Stars also fired assistant coach Anders Jacobson. Former Stars coach Lorne Donaldson also will rejoin the team as interim director of coaching for remainder of the year.
Donaldson, who led the Jamaican national team to the knockout round of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, was let go by the Stars in April 2025 after a 1-5-0 start to his second season with the club. The Stars went 10-14-2 in his first season and made the playoffs.
“This is a group of players I truly care about, and I’m very happy to return to the Chicago Stars for the next several months,” Donaldson said in a statement. “I’m excited to reunite with some familiar faces, for the opportunity to meet new players, and I look forward to working together with the staff to earn some wins in the final stretch of the season.”