COACH INTERVIEW
My name is Amine Airaki and I am from Al Hoceima in the Rif region of Morocco.
I fell in love with soccer as a young boy, and I remember sneaking out of the house to play soccer with my friends. Being pretty competitive, coaching came pretty naturally to me as I played/coached my teammates to try to win pick-up games.
I got a formal start to coaching at Sporting Hortaleza in Madrid. I quickly realized that I could have a big impact on players through coaching and that I really enjoyed it. My favorite teams are Real Madrid and my hometown team Chabab Rif, who I played for growing up.
After moving to Chicago in 2010, I founded and played for Berber Stars, now Berber City. I wanted to provide talented young men an opportunity to play at a high level in the city. Coaching youth teams was a natural transition because of the combination of my experience teaching K-8 and my passion for soccer. Playing sports growing up taught me a lot about life- teamwork, sportsmanship, work ethic, embracing diversity, how to win, and how to lose. I want the next generation to learn those same lessons through soccer.
In Fall of 2020, I became the Director of Coaching at Chicago City- South. I’m very excited and I feel fortunate to work with such an accomplished group and to have the opportunity to continue coaching and developing teams.