On June 3, 2008, it was announced that 'Red Stars' had won a fan ballot for the team's name.
In 2019, The Red Stars became the first team to make the NWSL play-offs five years in a row.
Women's Professional Soccer era
WPS started out in 2009 as a seven-team league. The Red Stars began life with US national team stars Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Lindsay Tarpley and Brazilian forward Cristiane.
Carli Lloyd playing for the United States
Cristiane led the team with seven goals, while Tarpley had four and both Rapinoe and Lloyd had two.
Lloyd left for Sky Blue FC after the season, and Chicago added defender Kate Markgraf, who had over 200 international caps for the United States.
Stars leave as Chicago drop a level
After the 2010 season, the Red Stars couldn't come up with the security bond to play in WPS in 2011.
They dropped down a level to WPSL so they wouldn't lose their brand name. As a result, most of their star players like Cristiane, Rapinoe, Masar, Markgraf and Whitney Engen left the team.
Megan Rapinoe celebrates scoring USA's first goal of the 2019 World Cup final
In the play-offs, they won three matches before falling in the WPSL finals to the Orange County Waves after extra-time.
In 2012, the Red Stars brought Masar back, added midfielder Lori Chalupny and moved into WPSL Elite. They finished fourth out of eight teams in the regular season with 28 points from 14 games.
In the play-offs, the Red Stars beat Boston 3-1 in the semi-finals but lost in a shootout to Western New York in the final.
National Women's Soccer League era
This league was subsidised by the US Soccer Federation, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation.
McLeod was traded to Houston after the 2013 season and was replaced in the starting line-up by Karina LeBlanc.
Chicago finished with 35 points from 24 games in 2014, missing the NWSL play-offs on a tiebreaker with Washington Spirit.
The Red Stars had a better goal difference, but the first tie-breaker was on head-to-head record and they had lost all three games to the Spirit during the season.
Press led the team with six goals, while Chalupny scored five. Johnston was named NWSL Rookie of the Year.
Late 2010s in the NWSL
They finished second in the regular season with 33 points, 10 points behind Seattle Reign. In the play-offs, they lost 3-0 to FC Kansas City in the semi-finals.
Press led the Red Stars with 10 goals in just 11 games, while Huerta scored six times. Chalupny retired after the 2015 season and her No. 17 jersey was also retired by the club.
In 2016, the Red Stars drafted Katie Naughton, traded to bring Engen back to the club and acquired goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
They finished third in the regular season with 33 points from 20 games and a +4 goal difference. In the play-off semi-finals, they lost 2-1 in extra-time to the Washington Spirit.
Naeher was the NWSL Player of the Month in June, while Press and Arin Gilliland were named in the NWSL Best XI. Press led the team with eight goals in 14 games, while Huerta added seven.
In 2017, the Red Stars added midfielder Kristie Mewis, while Johnston became Julie Ertz following her marriage to NFL tight end Zach Ertz. Chicago finished fourth in the regular season with 39 points and again made the play-offs.
They lost in the NWSL semi-finals for the third straight season with a 1-0 defeat to the North Carolina Courage. Press again led the Red Stars in scoring with 11 goals while Huerta had six and Ertz scored four. Press and defender Casey Short were named in the NWSL Best XI.
Big signings before 2018
Sam Kerr, Chelsea, 2020
The Red Stars finished fourth again in 2018 with 37 points. Yet again, they lost in the play-off semi-finals following a 2-0 defeat to the North Carolina Courage.
Kerr led the NWSL in scoring with 16 goals, was named in the NWSL Best XI and was also a finalist for league MVP. Ertz was a finalist for NWSL Defender of the Year.
Once they returned, Chicago rattled off five straight wins. They finished the regular season with five consecutive wins as well to qualify for the play-offs.
They finally grabbed a play-off win by beating the Portland Thorns 1-0 in the semi-finals courtesy of a goal from Kerr. However, they lost to North Carolina 4-0 in the NWSL final on October 27.
Kerr scored an NWSL-record 18 goals, while Yuki Nagasato scored seven times and led the NWSL with eight assists that season.
Kerr won six Player of the Week and two Player of the Month awards and was named league MVP. Kerr, Short and Ertz were named in the NWSL Best XI.
The 2020 NWSL season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Eight of the league's nine teams met in Sandy, Utah, for the NWSL Challenge Cup.
In group play, the Red Stars won one, drew one, and lost two, finishing in sixth place. In the quarter-finals, they upset No. 3 seed OL Reign in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.
In the semi-finals, goals from Bianca St Georges, Savannah McCaskill and Rachel Hill saw them beat Sky Blue FC 3-2. They couldn't go on to win the title, though, as they lost 2-0 to Houston Dash in the final.