The Chicago Fire will open the 2027 Major League Soccer sprint season on the road against the Philadelphia Union. MLS announced the schedule today.
The opening match will be played on the weekend of February 20th, kicking off at noon central time in Chester, Pennslyvania.
It is the fourth straight season that the Fire have opened an MLS season on the road, having previously matched up with the Philadelphia Union (2024), Columbus Crew (2025), and Houston Dynamo (2026). They are winless across those matches, losing to Columbus and Houston but drawing with Philadelphia.
The Fire's home opener will be a week later, facing Orlando City at Soldier Field on the 27th. Other home games include Miami (March 20th), Atlanta (March 27th), New England (April 3rd), Columbus (April 10th), New York City (April 21st), and Toronto FC (May 1st). The rest of the games will be on the road.
The sprint season is designed to accommodate the MLS calendar shift, which will move the league season from spring to winter, then to fall, then to spring. The shift brings MLS in line with the rest of world football and is expected to make U.S. clubs more competitive in the global transfer market.
As a result, the shortened regular season will run from mid-February to April, with playoffs taking place in May. It will only be a 14-game season, facing all in-conference rivals once (with 7 games at home and 7 on the road). Despite the season's compact nature, it will be counted as a fully fledged MLS campaign, with an MLS Cup, MVP, Golden Boot, etc. awarded without an official asterisk.
It remains to be seen what exactly the first team squad will look like once this shortened season starts, but it is a fair assumption that it won't look too different from the current roster. Robert Lewandowski, Jonathan Bamba, Philip Zinckernagel, and the rest of the Fire's core are all under contract through at least next winter.
