Chicago Red Stars suspend operations

The Chicago Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer announced Monday that the organization will suspend operations, with hopes of rejoining WPS in 2012. “This has been a very difficult and complex decision,” Red Stars Part-Owner and Governor Arnim Whisler said Monday in a statement. “Everything was trending well for our breakthrough 2011 season, but the abrupt loss of the Bay Area team scared away some of our planned investors, and we simply could not recover in time. We love this team, our players, staff and fans.”

This announcement comes not long after FC Gold Pride announced it will cease operations. This also means that more than three dozen players are without a place to play in WPS.

“We will work with our players to help them find teams quickly while the free market is in full swing,” Whisler added. “If we find our way through this quickly, we hope they’ll all want to come home to Chicago in 2012.”