Polish striker Lewandowski agrees to two-year deal with Chicago Fire

Posted June 28, 2026 8:07 pm

By Tom Bogert, Sebastian Stafford-Bloor and Paul Tenorio

Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski has agreed to a deal with the Chicago Fire and will join the club this summer, sources briefed on the situation tell The Athletic.

Lewandowski will sign a two-year contract and will be one of MLS’s highest-paid players, sources add. TalkSport and Sky Sports first reported Lewandowski’s decision.

The 37-year-old visited Chicago earlier this month as he weighed his options. Lewandowski is a free agent after his contract with Barcelona expired this summer.

Lewandowski will immediately become one of the league’s marquee stars and will arrive in a city with a proud Polish community. The Fire are trying to build up excitement around a winning team, but also with a star that can draw new fans to the team as they look to sell tickets for the new stadium, McDonald’s Park, that will open in the South Loop area of the city in 2028.

The forward began his legendary career in his native Poland and grew to stardom for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. He won 10 Bundesliga titles between his time with Dortmund and Bayern, then three LaLiga titles with Barcelona.

Lewandowski won the 2020 Champions League with Bayern and is one of the best players in his generation.

“We’re trying to recruit world-class players,” Fire director of football and head coach Gregg Berhalter told Up & Adams earlier this month. “We think (Lewandowski would) be a great signing not only for the Chicago Fire, but for the league, to have a player of that caliber. We see him right up there with Messi in terms of ability, and it’d be great for the city of Chicago.”

There’s also one other potentially big impact to this Lewandowski signing: the chance to add Leon Goretzka. The Fire remain in discussions with the former Bayern Munich midfielder and hope that by signing his former Bayern teammate, it may put them in position to convince the 31-year-old German international to opt for the MLS side. Goretzka also has interest from teams in Europe.

The Fire hope to get Lewandowski signed and sort the immigration work immediately so that the Polish striker has a chance to make his debut on July 16 against Vancouver in the league’s return to play ahead of the World Cup final, sources said.

The plan is to pair him up top with Cuypers, the league’s leading scorer, and to see if boasting one of MLS’s best attacks can push the team into a position to challenge for MLS Cup.

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Lewandowski joins cast of stars in MLS — but questions remain for the league

Analysis by national soccer reporter Paul Tenorio

Lewandowski is just the latest in a long line of big-name players who have joined MLS since 2023, when Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami. His signing is another indication of a concerted push the league is making to add more stars to MLS in the wake of the commercial success around Messi and Son Heung-min in Los Angeles.

This level of arrivals isn’t anything new for MLS, however.

In 2015, MLS teams signed Kaká, Frank Lampard, David Villa, Andrea Pirlo, Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Giovani Dos Santos, Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco. The difference will come in what MLS decides to do around its roster rules to supplement this rush of stars, from Messi and Rodrigo De Paul in Miami to Antoine Griezmann in Orlando, Thomas Müller in Vancouver and Son in Los Angeles.

MLS plans to flip its calendar beginning in 2027, but without substantial changes to roster rules, it is difficult to build up teams that can be more competitive on a regional and global level.