The 2012 Chicago Fire season was the club's 14th year of existence, as well as their 15th season in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

and their 15th consecutive year in the top-flight of American soccer. The Fire began the regular season with a 1–1 tie on March 17, 2012 when they were hosted by the expansion team Montreal Impact in their first Major League Soccer home game. The Men in Red concluded the regular season hosting

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

at the Toyota Park on October 27, 2012. The Fire qualified for the

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams qualif ...

for the twelfth time in their fifteen competitive seasons and for the first time since 2009. The team was eliminated from the playoffs after a 1–2 home loss to

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

in the Knockout Round match on October 31, 2012. At the end of the season, Chicago Fire's defender, Austin Berry, has been awarded the 2012

MLS Rookie of the Year Award The MLS Young Player of the Year Award (known as the Rookie of the Year Award from 1996 to 2019) is an annual award given to the top player in Major League Soccer under the age of 22. The award was initially awarded to a rookie, or a player who no ...

, while the club's captain

Logan Pause Logan Pause (born August 22, 1981) is an American former soccer player and coach who spent his entire twelve-year professional career with the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer. Playing career College and amateur After attending Jordan ...

has won the 2012

MLS Fair Play Award The Fair Play Award in Major League Soccer was the award that was given to an individual player and a team who presented best overall sportsmanlike behavior in addition to receiving one of the lowest numbers of yellow Yellow is the color be ...

Squad at the end of the season

As of October 31, 2012. Source
Chicago Fire Official Roster
/small>

Player movement

Transfers

In

Out

* The following players selected by Chicago Fire in either the

2012 MLS SuperDraft The 2012 MLS SuperDraft was the thirteenth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). The draft was reduced from three rounds to two with the 19 MLS clubs selecting a total of 38 p ...

2012 MLS Supplemental Draft The 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft was a secondary Draft (sports), draft that was held by Major League Soccer via conference call on January 17, 2012. The draft was four rounds and all 19 MLS clubs participated. Changes from 2011 *As an expansion c ...

were released during the pre-season trials: FW

Evans Frimpong Evans Frimpong (born August 8, 1989) is a Ghanaian footballer who is currently the head coach for the Florida Tropics outdoor team in the United Premier Soccer League, and an assistant coach with USL League Two club Swan City SC. Career Youth ...

, Supplemental Draft round 1; GK Karl Woszczynski, Supplemental Draft round 1; MF Justin Chavez, Supplemental Draft round 4. FW Lucky Mkosana, SuperDraft round 2, entered the season but ultimately was not signed by the club.

Loans

In

Out

Club staff

Standings

;Eastern Conference Table ;Western Conference Table ;Overall table

Results summary

Results by round

Match results

Pre-season

Kickoff times are in CST.

Major League Soccer

Kickoff times are in CDT.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Kickoff times are in CDT.

U.S. Open Cup

Kickoff times are in CDT.

International friendlies

Kickoff times are in CDT.

Recognition

Kits

Leading scorers

Updated to match played on October 27, 2012.
Source
MLSsoccer.com statistics - 2012 Chicago Fire
/small>

MLS Team of the Week

MLS Player of the Week

MLS Save of the Week

MLS Goal of the Week

MLS Fair Play Award

Chicago Fire's midfielder and captain,

, has been awarded the league's 2012

Fair Play Award Fair Play Award may refer to: Association football *Kategoria Superiore Fair Play Award, in Albania *FIFA Fair Play Award *MLS Fair Play Award *North American Soccer League Fair Play Award Other *Indian Premier League Fair Play Award * Giro d'Ital ...

. Over the course of 32 matches played this season, Pause has accumulated only 11 fouls and no yellow or red cards.

MLS Rookie of the Year

Chicago Fire's defender Austin Berry, selected number nine overall in the

, has been awarded the league's 2012

Rookie of the Year Award A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. Berry has started in 28 games and scored three goals, one in his debut match. Berry collected the most votes in all three categories: players, media and club management.

Miscellany

Allocation ranking

Chicago is in the #9 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.2011 MLS Roster Rules Major League Soccer

International roster slots

Chicago has 8

MLS International Roster Slots MLS International Roster Slots are an important piece of roster composition in Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport ...

for use in the 2012 season. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots. No slot trades involving Chicago have been reported.

Future draft pick trades

Future picks acquired: *

2014 MLS SuperDraft The 2014 MLS SuperDraft was the fifteenth MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The first two rounds of the four round draft took place on January 16, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention Center ...

round 4 pick from

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

.
Future picks traded: *

2013 MLS Supplemental Draft The 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft was a secondary draft that was held by Major League Soccer via conference call on January 22, 2013. The draft was four rounds with all 19 MLS clubs participating. Selection order The official selection order was a ...

round 1 pick to

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

. At the time of the trade, this pick was equivalent to a round 3 SuperDraft selection.

MLS rights to other players

It is believed Chicago maintains the MLS rights to Carlos Bocanegra and Freddie Ljungberg, as each of these players declined contract offers by the club and signed overseas on free transfers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 Chicago Fire Season Chicago Fire FC seasons

Chicago Fire Soccer Club (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Chicago Fire