| Club: | Chicago Red Stars |
| Season: | 2021 |
| Chairman: | Arnim Whisler |
| Chrtitle: | Owner |
| Manager: | Rory Dames |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| Stdtitle: | Stadium |
| Stadium: | SeatGeek Stadium (capacity: 20,000) |
| League: | NWSL |
| League Result: | 4th in season Championship finalists |
| Cup1: | Challenge Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | 4th in East Division |
| League Topscorer: | Kealia Watt (5) |
| Season Topscorer: | Kealia Watt, Mallory Pugh (5) |
| Highest Attendance: | Regular season: 4,488 (Oct. 16 vs. KC) Postseason: 7,027 (Nov. 7 vs. NJNY) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 2,265 (June 5 vs. NC) |
| Average Attendance: | 3,143 |
| Largest Win: | 3–0 (Aug. 28 vs. KC) |
| Largest Loss: | 0–5 (May 16 vs. POR) |
| Pattern La1: | _redstars19h |
| Pattern B1: | _redstars19h |
| Leftarm1: | 6bf |
| Body1: | 6bf |
| Rightarm1: | 6bf |
| Shorts1: | 1c2125 |
| Socks1: | 6bf |
| Pattern B2: | _redstars20a |
| Leftarm2: | fff |
| Body2: | fff |
| Rightarm2: | fff |
| Shorts2: | fff |
| Socks2: | fff |
| Pattern La3: | _redstars20t |
| Pattern B3: | _redstars20t |
| Pattern Ra3: | _redstars20t |
| Leftarm3: | 1c2125 |
| Body3: | 1c2125 |
| Rightarm3: | 1c2125 |
| Shorts3: | 1c2125 |
| Socks3: | 1c2125 |
| American: | true |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2021 Chicago Red Stars season was the team's thirteenth season and ninth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.
See also: 2021 NWSL abuse scandal.
On November 22, 2021, two days after losing to the Washington Spirit in the NWSL championship final, the Chicago Red Stars announced that head coach Rory Dames had resigned effective immediately.[1] Later that day, The Washington Post sports reporter Molly Hensley-Clancy reported that prior to resigning, the Post had approached the Red Stars front office with allegations from players, both previous and current, of abuse by Dames. The Post also provided documentation of reports made to United States Soccer Federation by players, including Christen Press, dating as far back as 2014 that detailed abuse, harassment, and inappropriate use of Dames's power as head coach to manipulate players. “Three former Red Stars players, including one who played on the team at the time of the investigation, told The Post that they had wanted to speak to U.S. Soccer investigators but had never heard from them,” reported Hensley-Clancy. “Two had left the team because of Dames's abuse, they said.”[2]
On November 24, the Red Stars ownership released a statement apologizing to "Christen Press, Jennifer Hoy, Samantha Johnson and those players who didn't feel safe to come forward" and saying that "our club will require significant reflection and evaluation to ensure this does not happen again."[3]
See main article: 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup.
See main article: 2021 National Women's Soccer League season.
See main article: 2021 NWSL Draft.
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2021 NWSL Draft was held on January 13, 2021.
| Round | Pick | Player | College | Status | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  | FW | Stanford | Returned to Stanford; did not make final 2022 roster | [5] [6] | |
| 2 | 18 | | FW | Santa Clara | Returned to Santa Clara; traded to San Diego Wave FC in December 2021 | [7] | |
| 3 | 25 | | DF | Washington State | Returned to Washington State; did not make final 2022 roster | ||
| 4 | 32 | | FW | Ole Miss | Returned to Ole Miss; signed contract in 2022 | ||
| 35 | | FW | Virginia | Not offered a contract |
| Date | Player | Destination club | Fee/notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 29, 2021 |  | FW | Houston Dash | Rights traded in exchange for Houston's natural second-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. | [8] [9] | |
| November 30, 2021 | | DF |  Adelaide United FC | Loaned until March 28, 2022. | [10] | |
| December 2, 2021 | | FW | San Diego Wave FC | Traded in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft and an undisclosed amount of allocation money. | [11] [12] | |
| | FW | |||||
| | FW | |||||
| | MF | Angel City FC | Traded with international slots in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft. | |||
| | DF | |||||
| | MF | OL Reign | Traded for a third-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. | |||
| December 8, 2021 | | DF | — | Retired. | [13] [14] | |