The club president is Ishwara Glassman-Chrein; Georg Heitz was appointed sporting director in December 2019; The Fire were originally based at Soldier Field from 1997 to 2006.

Many notable players have worn the Fire shirt, including U.S. internationals Chris Armas, Carlos Bocanegra, Frank Klopas, DaMarcus Beasley, Brian McBride, Tony Sanneh, Cory Gibbs, Ante Razov, Josh Wolff, Eric Wynalda and Jon Busch.

The Fire also have a reputation for importing international talent, from established veterans like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Pável Pardo, Piotr Nowak, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Tomasz Frankowski, Luboš Kubík, Hristo Stoichkov and Jorge Campos; in addition to younger players such as Patrick Nyarko, Marco Pappa, Damani Ralph, Bakary Soumaré and Nery Castillo.

The team brought in Polish players Piotr Nowak, Jerzy Podbrożny, and Roman Kosecki; the Mexican Jorge Campos; and the Czech Luboš Kubík.

Competitively, the season was most notable for the blockbuster visit of Milan from Italy's Serie A, and the surprising 4–0 away defeat of D.C. United in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.

2006 arrived, and the Fire moved from Soldier Field into its new stadium in Bridgeview, a southwest suburb of Chicago: Toyota Park, located at the corner of 71st Street and Harlem Avenue.

In its first season, it played host to an unspectacular league campaign; but victory in the 2006 U.S. Open Cup marked a continuation of the club's successes and promise for the future.

On September 6, 2007, Andell Holdings, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm controlled by chairman Andrew Hauptman, acquired AEG's interest in the Chicago Fire Soccer Club.

On the field, behind Blanco and Wilman Conde, Osorio's central defender at Millionarios, the Fire went on an extended unbeaten run to close the season, easily qualifying for the playoffs but were defeated at New England in the Eastern Conference Final.

Behind summer reinforcements Pável Pardo and Sebastián Grazzini, as well as forward Dominic Oduro's 12 goals after being acquired in a trade from Houston and Dan Gargan's defensive addition, the Fire qualified for the U.S. Open Cup Final (lost at Seattle) and narrowly missed making the playoffs after gaining 24 points in their last 12 league matches.

Although they would fall out of the U.S. Open tournament early that season, the Fire eventually compiled a 17–11–6 record, their best since 2000, and ranked as high as second in the Eastern Conference before ending the year in fourth place.

The team acquired Joel Lindpere and Jeff Larentowicz and also traded Dominic Oduro for Dilly Duka and the rights to Robbie Rogers.

After two successive losses to the Union in May, and with veteran Arne Friedrich still on injured reserve, the Fire acquired their former centerback Bakary Soumaré from Philadelphia.

The Fire were busy in the transfer window as well, adding veteran defensive midfielder Arévalo Ríos and forward Juan Luis Anangonó.

On October 30, 2013, the club announced that the president of soccer operations Javier Leon and head coach Frank Klopas had stepped down,[22] but the Fire front office had a replacement one day later.

Brown and former U.S. International striker Clint Mathis as the team's assistant coaches, adding Columbus Crew's Brian Bliss as Technical Director.

Major exits in early 2014 included Chris Rolfe,[31] Austin Berry,[32] Jalil Anibaba, Daniel Paladini, and Paolo Tornaghi.

Filling that void was a handful of youth prospects including Harrison Shipp (homegrown player), Benji Joya (via MLS "weighted lottery"), and Grant Ward on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

The club began 2015 with renewed hope, bringing three new Designated Player signings in David Accam, Shaun Maloney and Kennedy Igboananike to bolster an anemic attack.

With so many new pieces needing to adjust, 2015 marked the first time in club history the side began the season with an 0–3–0 record, but they showed signs of recovery by winning their next three matches.

Less than two weeks later, Maloney, who was the club's center piece offseason signing, was transferred back to England with Hull City citing personal reasons.

[34] Despite no hope for a Cup final, widespread fan protests[35][36] and dim likelihood of a playoff berth, the club didn't part ways with Frank Yallop until September 20, 2015, one day after another listless 1–0 home defeat to Orlando City SC.

Technical director Brian Bliss was given the interim head coaching job, with former player and current club vice president Logan Pause assisting for the remaining five matches.

[56] News that the Chicago Fire would not be renewing the contract of their last-remaining DP, Nicolas Gaitan, as well as winger Aleksandar Katai was overshadowed by an even larger organizational unveiling one week later.

[85] For its first years in the league the Fire played at Soldier Field, the 61,500-capacity home of the Chicago Bears of the NFL and one of the main venues of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

In April 2019, multiple sources reported the club in negotiations with Bridgeview to buy out the remainder of its lease at SeatGeek Stadium and return to Soldier Field.

[89][90] In July 2019, Chicago Fire reached a deal to leave SeatGeek Stadium for a payment of $65.5 million and move back to Soldier Field starting in 2020.

At matches, supporters and ultras groups occupy a standing area directly behind the north goal, in the Harlem End of Toyota Park.

[106][107][108] In April 2021, the club announced that their television broadcast team would consist of play-by-play commentator Tyler Terens, color analyst, Tony Meola.

In 2008, the members voted to honor two recently deceased fans (supporter leaders Dan Parry and Brandon Kitchens) but were overruled by the club chairman Andrew Hauptman.