Chicago House Athletic Club is an American professional men's soccer club owned by Laurence Girard and led by CEO

Peter Wilt Peter Wilt is a soccer executive who was the first President and General Manager of the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer, led an effort to bring an expansion MLS franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and maintains strong connections to the sp ...

. The club is based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. They began play in August 2021, competing in the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

(NISA), a professional 3rd tier league. The club currently play in the semi-professional

Midwest Premier League The Midwest Premier League (MWPL) is an American amateur and semi-professional soccer league. The league spans primarily the eastern and central portions of the Midwestern United States. History The league was founded by four clubs which we ...

History

On September 10, 2020, the

(NISA) announced that an investor group, led by league founder

, had applied for a club to play in the Chicago market. Wilt had previously attempted to start a new Chicago team in 2016 with the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL) and more recently in 2018, following his departure from NISA, successfully started the

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

based

Forward Madison FC Forward Madison FC is an American professional soccer team based in Madison, Wisconsin. The team was founded in 2018, and played its inaugural season in 2019. The team competes in the third division of the US soccer league system and plays thei ...

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

. Other investors included Bruce Merivale-Austin. On November 5, NISA officially announced the team had been accepted with an aim to begin play in Fall 2021. In the following months, the team asked fans to submit potential team names that related to the history and culture of Chicago. The team selected 68 finalists and held a fan advisory poll bracket, dubbed "Moniker Madness", to determine the most popular option. The winner of the poll, "Chicago House" was unveiled as the official name on February 23, 2021, alongside the team crest and colors. On January 27, 2021, the team confirmed that it would play home matches at

SeatGeek Stadium SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about twelve miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of the MLS Next ...

Bridgeview, Illinois Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately southwest of the Chicago Loop. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 17,027. History The earliest settlement in Bridgeview occurred in the ...

. On February 2, former

Chicago Fire FC (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

player and all-time appearance leader

C. J. Brown C. J. Brown (born June 15, 1975) is an American soccer manager and former player. He currently serves as an assistant coach for Chicago Fire FC in Major League Soccer. Early life Brown was born Charles James Brown in Eugene, Oregon. He is of ...

was announced as the team's first technical director and head coach. On May 1, 2021, the team announced that Lindsey Morgan Sacks would become the new primary team owner, taking control of the club from Bruce Merivale-Austin. On July 9, 2021, the team played their official first match in club history, losing 2–0 to amateur side

FC Milwaukee Torrent FC Milwaukee Torrent is an American soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The club fields a men's and women's team. The men play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), and the women play in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) ...

in the 2021 NISA Independent Cup. Two weeks later, the House defeated Union Dubuque FC by a score of 5–0 to end the Independent Cup campaign with a first win in club history. The club finished 6th in its inaugural season, posting a 7-2-9 record. Wojciech Wojcik was the team's top scorer, notching eight goals. During the off-season, the club fell into disrepute with NISA, owing to a rift between Laurence Girard, husband of owner Lindsey-Morgan Sacks, and NISA commissioner John Prutch. As such, CHAC were voted out of the league and excluded from the

2022 U.S. Open Cup The 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 107th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, a knockout cup competition in American soccer. After the 2020 and 2021 competitions were suspended and ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United St ...

, along with New Amsterdam FC, owned by Girard. In March 2022, it was announced via social media that the club would join the

for the upcoming season. CEO Wilt also expressed intent to return to NISA in 2023. The House announced its initial Midwest Premier League schedule via social media and also announced it would play its home matches at Stuart Field, on the campus of

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

Club identity

The club's name, Chicago House Athletic Club, was announced on February 21, 2021, and refers to the

Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...

style of music. It was one of 400 entries submitted for a public contest; the 68 finalist names were picked through public votes in a bracket tournament. The club's logo uses civic symbols of Chicago as well as the city skyline and depicts the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...

. The team's colors are "Patina Green", black, and "deep rust" (a shade of orange).

Players and staff

Current roster

Fall 2021 stats can be found here. Player stats Fall 2021 https://nisasoccer.com/player-stats 2021 roster below 2022 roster below 4 players have confirmed to return from the previous season. The roster below shows the lineup for the home opener on Friday May 13th 2022.

Front office

* Lindsey Morgan Sacks – Owner *

– CEO * Night Train Veeck – COO * Matt Poland – Technical director and head coach

References

External links

* {{Illinois Sports National Independent Soccer Association teams Soccer clubs in Illinois 2020 establishments in Illinois Soccer clubs in Chicago Association football clubs established in 2020