Former Fire Players Nominated For The National Soccer Hall Of Fame

Earlier today the ballots for the National Soccer Hall Of Fame Class of 2018 were released.

The Player ballot include six former Chicago Fire players— including the club’s all-time leading goalscorer and Ring Of Fire inductee Ante Razov. The former Fire #9, who was part of the storied 1998 team that won the MLS Cup as well as the Supporters Shield in 2003 and three US Open Cups, is in his final year of eligibility.

Other nominees with connections to the Fire include Carlos Bocanegra (his first year of eligibility), Josh Wolff (another CF97 Original), Clint Mathis (an assistant coach for the Fire in 2014 and 2015), Tony Sanneh, and Jay DeMerit (former Fire PDL player).

Voting will run through March 26th and the winners will be announced... at some point. The induction ceremony will be held on October 20th in Frisco, TX.

Here are the eligibility rules, per the Fire’s website (linked above):

To be eligible for selection in the Player category, an individual must have been retired for at least three full calendar years, but for no more than 10 full calendar years AND meet one of the following criteria:

A player must have played at least 20 full international games for the United States. This 20-game requirement is reduced to 10 games if the games were prior to 1990.

A player must have played at least five seasons in an American first-division professional league and been a postseason league all-star at least once.

Played at least five seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League between the end of the NASL in 1984 and the end of the MISL in 1992 and been selected as a first-team postseason all-star in at least one of those seasons.

The voting committee includes all past and present Men’s and Women’s full National Team coaches, all active MLS and NWSL head coaches with a minimum of four years of experience as a head coach at the highest level in the United States, MLS and NWSL management representatives, the MLS Commissioner and NWSL Executive Director, U.S. Soccer CEO/Secretary General, U.S. Soccer President, designated media members and all Hall of Famers.

And here is the full Player ballot.

• Juan Pablo Angel*
• David Beckham
• Gregg Berhalter
• Carlos Bocanegra*
• Steve Cherundolo
• Brian Ching
• Bobby Convey*
• Jeff Cunningham
• Jay DeMerit*
• Brad Friedel*
• Kevin Hartman
• Frankie Hejduk
• Thierry Henry*
• Stuart Holden*
• Eddie Johnson*
• Chris Klein
• Eddie Lewis
• Lori Lindsey*
• Kate Sobrero Markgraf
• Pablo Mastroeni
• Clint Mathis
• Tiffeny Milbrett
• Heather Mitts
• Jaime Moreno
• Ben Olsen
• Pat Onstad
• Steve Ralston
• Ante Razov**
• Tony Sanneh
• Taylor Twellman
• Aly Wagner
• Josh Wolff

* First year of eligibility

**Final year of eligibility; moves to Veteran ballot in 2019