Martin Sjogren Will Lead the Chicago Stars
Sources close to the situation have confirmed that Martin Sjögren, former coach of the Norwegian women’s national team, will take over as head coach of the Chicago Stars.
Sjögren is expected to join the Chicago team for the 2026 NWSL season, which will begin in January. Sjögren currently manages Hammarby in the Damallsvenskan, the top tier of women’s football in Sweden.
The Swedish season ends in November, a few days before the NWSL championship. Hammarby will participate in the play-in rounds of the UEFA Women’s Champions League later this month.
Currently, the Chicago Stars are in thirteenth position in the NWSL, which has 14 teams, with 11 games remaining in the season. Ella Masar is at the helm of the team as interim coach, this being the team’s third coach so far this season.
Lorne Donaldson was dismissed as coach at the end of April, after having led Chicago to the playoffs the previous year. At that time, assistant coach Masaki Hemmi took over as interim coach. However, Hemmi left the club in early July to become head coach of Lexington SC in the USL Super League, another first-division women’s league in the United States.
Sjögren has extensive experience as a coach in club football in his native Sweden and is known for his time as coach of the Norway women’s national team. He led Norway for almost six years, from 2016 to 2022, including an appearance in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup.
Norway failed to advance from the group stage in the 2017 and 2022 European Championships under Sjögren’s management, and he resigned after the 2022 tournament.
Sjögren became Hammarby’s coach in January 2024, and the team finished third in the league last year, which allowed them to qualify for the play-in stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The Stars have won only once in 15 matches this season and are 2 points behind the Utah Royals at the bottom of the NWSL table.
