User:Oznogon/Draft:2021 Chicago Red Stars season

The 2021 Chicago Red Stars season was the team's thirteenth season as a professional women's soccer team and ninth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.

Background
The Red Stars finished sixth in both the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup and 2020 NWSL Fall Series, which replaced the 2020 NWSL season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ownership changes
On March 1, 2021, the Red Stars announced the addition of several new owners to the club, joining principal owner Arnim Whisler and fellow founding owners Dean Egerter and Steve Ritchie:

• Israel Idonije

• Kendall Coyne Schofield

• Michael Schofield

• Sarah Spain

• Music executive Colleen Mares

• Marketing executive Julie Haddon

• Marie Tillman, widow of Pat Tillman

• Marketing executive Jessie Becker

• Investor Brian Walsh of the Walsh Group/Walsh Construction

• David M. Zapata, founder of Zapwater Communications

• Jordan Levin

• Entertainment attorney Abel Lezcano

• Union Editorial co-founder Michael Raimondi

• 1871 founding CEO Kevin Willer

On May 4, 2021, the Red Stars announced further additions to the club's ownership group:

• Aimee Garcia

• Olympic gymnast Josh Dixon

• Bela Bajaria

• Channing Dungey and spouse Scott Power

• Television talent executive Keli Lee

• SpringHill Company executive Devin Johnson and daughter Carys Johnson

• Television and film producer Ken Kaufman

• Journalist Nora Mabie

• Rosa Partners founder Kim Vender Moffat, Stephen Moffat, and Todd Vender

• Entertainment attorneys Nick Coleman and Jon Moonves

• Executives Jim Allen, Graham Allen, and Kirk Allen of Sloan Valve Company

Management changes
On April 8, 2021, the Red Stars hired Vicky Lynch to the newly created role of chief business officer.

Coaching changes
On August 31, 2021, assistant coach Scott Parkinson left the Red Stars to accept the head coaching job at NJ/NY Gotham FC.

Abuse scandal
Throughout the 2021 National Women's Soccer League season, allegations of abuse surfaced in multiple teams across the National Women's Soccer League in the United States. As a result, five out of the ten teams in the league had head coaches resign or be fired, with league commissioner Lisa Baird also resigning due to the scandal.

On November 22, just two days after losing to the Spirit in the NWSL championship final, the Red Stars announced that head coach Rory Dames had resigned effective immediately. Later that day, The Washington Post published an article with allegations from players, both previous and current, of abuse by head coach Rory Dames. The Post provided documentation of reports made to the United States Soccer Federation by players, such as Christen Press, as far back as 2014, detailing abuse, harassment, and inappropriate use of power as head coach to manipulate players.

In February 2022, the Post published a follow-up story reporting claims of misconduct dating back to the late 1990's, including a 1998 police report involving a youth player Dames coached at Chicago Eclipse Select. The allegations went further, including multiple players claiming to have had a sexual relationship with Dames when they played for him at Eclipse, and verbal abuse. The story also confirmed that Dames had stepped down as president of Eclipse after resigning from the Red Stars and was replaced by vice president Mike Nesci, but the organization "did not respond to questions about whether Dames still owned Eclipse or was involved in its governance." Dames' attorney claimed the allegations from the report were "unfounded."

Stadium and facilities
The Red Stars continued to play in SeatGeek Stadium, their home since the final match of the team's 2015 season.

Broadcasting
On August 23, 2021, the Red Stars announced that Univision Chicago would simulcast Spanish-language coverage of the club's September 25 match against Portland Thorns FC on WXFT-DT and WRTO AM.

Preseason
The Red Stars scheduled two closed-door private preseason scrimmages against collegiate and amateur teams.

NWSL Challenge Cup
The Red Stars competed in the cup's West Division during the group stage.

NWSL Playoffs
In 2021, the NWSL expanded the single-elimination playoff field from four to six teams, and granted the top two teams in the regular-season standings a first-round bye. The Red Stars finished fourth in the league, defeated NJ/NY Gotham FC in the first round and Portland Thorns FC in the semi-finals, and lost to the Washington Spirit in the finals.

The Women's Cup
The 2021 The Women's Cup was the inaugural edition of a friendly invitational tournament of women's association football matches. It took place in Lynn Family Stadium of Louisville, Kentucky, United States, from August 18 to 21, 2021. The initial match of the tournament, featuring the Red Stars and Racing Louisville FC, was also teams' scheduled regular season NWSL match, and the regulation result was represented in the league standings. That match's result was a draw, which is the result counted in the NWSL standings. To resolve the result for The Women's Cup, the teams engaged in a post-match penalty shootout that was not counted as part of the NWSL match. Paris Saint-Germain defeated Chicago 1–0 in the third-place match.

Appearances, scoring, and discipline
''Players with no appearances not included in the list. Players whose names are struck were no longer with the club at the time of the list's most recent update. Numbers in parentheses in the Appearances column represent the number of appearances as a substitute.''

NWSL annual awards
Announced November 17, 2021

NWSL Draft
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2021 NWSL Draft was held on January 13, 2021.