Heitz to Leave Fire after Season

CHICAGO, IL–Chicago Fire FC Sporting Director Georg Heitz has announced that he will leave the club and return to Switzerland due to “personal reasons” ending a five-year run with the club.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to return to Switzerland after the 2024 season due to personal reasons,” said Heitz. “I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to Joe Mansueto and his family for their unwavering trust and loyalty. Their commitment to the Club is exceptional, and working alongside them has been an honor.

“I also want to thank the players, coaches, staff, fans, and everyone associated with the Chicago Fire for their hard work and support,” added Heitz. “Although the results have fallen short of our expectations, I am proud of our progress in other important areas and the working culture we’ve established, which will serve the organization well moving forward. With the move into a new performance center and added roster flexibility in the offseason, I am confident that the future is bright for this Club. We also remain fully committed to qualifying for the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs and will give everything until the very last moment to achieve that goal.”

Heitz was hired on December 20, 2019, and hastily put together a squad for the 2020 season that missed the playoffs in a pandemic-affected year. The Fire have yet to make the playoffs under Heitz and overall results have been mixed.

While Heitz deserves credit for  the Fire has implementing a global scouting operation, adding Chicago Fire FC II to complete the professional pathway from the Academy to the First Team (the Fire have signed 10 Homegrown Players and transferred three players to top-five leagues), and building a multi-club network by acquiring Swiss Super League side FC Lugano; the Achilles’ heel was with designated players.

Most of the designated players that Heitz signed did not live up to the billing–especially Xherdan Shaqiri–whose output has not been worth the $8 million salary he is being paid. Jhon Duran was a successful before he was sold to English Premier League side Aston Villa for a hefty fee. Hugo Cuypers would be a better signing if a better central attacking midfielder was signed to provide him better service.

The Fire will conduct a global search for Heitz’s successor. Meanwhile, Heitz will continue through the end of this season and maintain his position as a member of the board of directors at FC Lugano.

The Fire return to action on Saturday, August 24th at New York City FC at Citi Field with kickoff at 6:30pm on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.