FootyPop: Chicago Stars Hire Martin Sjögren

In this week’s women’s soccer news, the Chicago Stars have found their new head coach; Tennessee pulled off a massive upset; Sofia Cantore scored a historic goal; and more!

High of the Week

The Chicago Stars have found their new head coach. The club announced this week that Martin Sjögren would be their next coach, but he won’t join the team until after the 2025 season. Anders Jacobson will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Sjögren is currently the head coach at Hammarby in Sweden, where he’ll stay to finish out their season. He’s also the former head coach of the Norwegian Women’s National Team, where he spent 2016-22 leading Norway, including at the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

Low of the Week

The Kansas City Current and Orlando Pride matchup got off to a bad start, with the game being delayed a few hours due to an excessive heat warning. When the game finally did start, Orlando’s superstar Barbra Banda went down with a leg injury after getting tangled up. The forward went down in the 14th minute and was subbed off. There hasn’t been an update on what the injury is, but we’re hoping that it’s nothing serious and we’ll see Banda back out there soon. Banda is the Pride’s leading goalscorer with eight goals on the season.

News of the Week

In a bit of a shocking move, Spain has moved on from Montse Tomé, revealing that her contract as head coach would not be renewed. Tomé began as an assistant coach for Spain and took over the head coaching job in 2023 after the Women’s World Cup. Under Tomé, Spain finished as the runners-up at the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championship.

Sonia Bermúdez has been announced as the new head coach for Spain. Bermúdez had previously spent time coaching the youth national teams for Spain, leading both the U-19s and U-23s.

Upset of the Week

Tennessee pulled off the biggest upset in their first match of the season, knocking off the reigning National Champions and top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Shae O’Rourke scored two second-half goals to lead the Lady Vols to their first win over a No. 1 ranked team in school history. Tennessee came into the season unranked, but they quickly put the country on notice with their big win over UNC and then a 9-0 win over Eastern Kentucky.

Goal of the Week

Sofia Cantore got her first start for the Washington Spirit against Racing Louisville, and she scored her first goal in the match as well. It was a beautiful goal shot from distance that ricocheted off the crossbar and into the back of the net. Cantore became the first Italian player to score in the NWSL. Her goal also helped the Washington Spirit walk away with one point and a 2-2 draw.

Fail of the Week

Gotham FC got off to a fast start in their game against the Houston Dash, thanks to a goal from their leading goalscorer, Esther Gonzalez but things quickly took a turn for the club. Storms moved through the area that put the match under a weather delay for quite some time and then when play resumed Houston tied the match with a really bad own goal from Emily Sonnett. Then Gotham gave up a stoppage time goal to Michelle Alozie, giving up all three points.

What To Look Forward To

College soccer is back, and this week there’s a ranked matchup between TCU and Iowa on Thursday, August 21 at 8 p.m. ET. It should be a really entertaining matchup early on into the season. It’ll be Iowa’s second straight matchup against a ranked opponent; the first was a 3-2 win against No. 6 Arkansas.

Social Media Post of the Week

It was revealed that Georgia Stanway gave Beth Meade a Champions League tattoo to commemorate Arsenal’s 2025 campaign, where they became the champions of Europe.