Ten days after parting ways with the Kansas City Current, Vlatko Andonovski has a new job: running soccer operations for the last-place Chicago Stars. The 49-year-old, who guided Kansas City to the 2025 NWSL Shield before an ill-fated shift into the front office, will become the Stars' chief soccer officer, taking the highest-ranking spot on the club's technical staff.
The move comes fast. According to the Kansas City Star, Andonovski and the Current announced his departure as sporting director on September 7, and just over a week later he resurfaced in Chicago. The Kansas City Current and Andonovski had mutually agreed to terminate his contract after less than a year in the executive role, with the club saying his transition from head coach to sporting director simply was not the right fit, according to KC Soccer Journal.
It is a jarring turn for a coach who had just delivered the best season in franchise history. Under Andonovski, Kansas City won the 2025 NWSL Shield while setting league regular-season records with 65 points, 21 victories, 16 clean sheets and just 13 goals allowed, per AP News. The Star reports Andonovski led Kansas City's two most successful regular seasons before the club fell to Gotham FC in the first round of the playoffs, and that he had scouted players at the U-20 Women's World Cup in Poland and fielded offers from multiple NWSL teams, according to ESPN.
A Rebuild Waiting to Happen in Chicago
Where Andonovski left a champion, he is walking into a club in crisis. The Stars enter his hiring dead last in the NWSL with a 5-17-2 record, already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and facing a possible second straight last-place finish, per the same AP News report. Chicago made the playoffs in eight of its first twelve seasons before sliding into back-to-back cellar finishes, and the club is on track for a second straight wooden spoon while it could break several league-worst records, including surpassing its own 2025 mark for goals allowed, the Star reports.
Chicago's front office has been in upheaval all year. The club fired general manager Richard Feuz in May and dismissed head coach Martin Sjögren in August after less than a full season on the job, AP News reports. Andonovski will now control roster improvement and technical-staff appointments, with additional leadership positions reporting up to him, according to the Star.
Familiar Faces and a Shared History
Andonovski is not walking into Chicago as a stranger. Chicago Stars president Karen Leetzow served as U.S. Soccer's chief legal officer during Andonovski's tenure as USWNT head coach, which began in 2019, and the Star reports she said Chicago actively sought departing Kansas City talent. Leetzow's résumé also includes managing equal pay negotiations and overseeing the independent investigation into abuse in women's soccer, according to the Chicago Red Stars.
Two other former Kansas City staffers have already landed in Chicago. Kate Cohen, formerly Kansas City's head of scouting, joined the Stars as interim technical consultant, and Garga Caserta, also a former Kansas City head of scouting, joined as interim director of high performance — both worked with Andonovski during his USWNT tenure, per the Star. Longtime Andonovski assistant Milan Ivanovic, who has served under him in multiple jobs for more than a decade and been floated for various NWSL head-coach openings, was reportedly considered for the Chicago head-coach position, according to ESPN.
Andonovski himself framed the decision as straightforward once he spoke with Leetzow and owner Laura Ricketts, telling the Star he was excited by Chicago's opportunity to build the club's identity and that its direction, vision and values align with his beliefs. According to ESPN, he has said he takes joy in building a team's identity rather than in coaching itself.
Chicago's Rebuild Extends Beyond the Roster
The Stars' challenges go well past the scoreboard. The club currently plays home matches at Northwestern University's Martin Stadium in Evanston and plans to stay there through 2027 while it searches for a permanent stadium site in downtown Chicago, according to The Guardian. That follows ten seasons at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview before the relocation.
The franchise itself is still relatively new in name. The club was established in 2007 and rebranded from the Chicago Red Stars — a name announced in 2008 — to Chicago Stars FC ahead of the 2025 season, per Just Women's Sports. Ricketts, a Chicago Cubs co-owner, led an ownership consortium that bought the Chicago Red Stars in 2023 at a $35.5 million valuation, according to the same outlet.
Andonovski's own résumé stretches back over a decade of NWSL success elsewhere. He led FC Kansas City to back-to-back league titles in 2014 and 2015 and won NWSL Coach of the Year honors in 2013 and 2019, per the Star and Chicago Stars FC. He also coached Seattle Reign FC before taking over the U.S. women's national team in 2019, cementing his status as a prominent figure in Kansas City soccer even before his executive detour.
A League Growing Fast, a Club Falling Behind
The contrast between the two clubs underscores just how steep Chicago's climb is. Kansas City and Chicago have long met as Midwestern rivals, and the two clubs finished just above each other for last place in the NWSL standings after the 2023 season, the Star notes.
The NWSL itself is expanding, with new clubs planned in Denver, Columbus and possibly Cincinnati, adding further competition to a league already reshaping its financial landscape. For Chicago, the immediate task is simpler: turn a last-place roster into a contender before the growing field of rivals pulls even further ahead.
