ARCADIA — A 74-year-old bearded man armed with soccer knowledge and erudite charm walks through Mexico City towards the Estadio Azteca on June 11.
The glossy look of the newly renovated venue strikes the imagination of Cherif Zein, an Arcadia resident and current girls soccer coach at Alex and Rose Pilibos Armenian School of Northridge.
Zein knows his way around Mexico City because it’s where he attended his first World Cup match in 1986. Zein speaks Spanish, French, Arabic and Farsi and his soccer journey is unique.
This summer marks the 11th consecutive World Cup Zein has attended.
Anfield, La Bombonera, Marcana, Luzhniki are among the places he’s watched matches on the grandest stage. As a boy, Zein dreamed of one day playing in the World Cup.
Zein stands as one of the few soccer fans in the world who have attended every World Cup since 1986, a journey that started in Mexico.
“For me, it’s about meeting people,” Zein said. “When I watched the game between New Zealand and Iran, I met these guys in front and they knew some of my friends. The guy next to me was my roommate’s best friend at UCLA. It’s a small world. You make a lot of new friends, I pass out my card and I connect with people. With social media like Facebook, it’s even better.”
Between the destinations and journeys of the World Cup, he’s made innumerable friendships as a coach and former player.
Meeting Pelé? Zein met the legendary face of soccer, twice actually.
Diego Maradona? Lionel Messi? Cristiano Ronaldo? Ronaldinho? David Beckham? That’s only a handful of the legends Zein has come into contact with over his 74 years of life, either at the World Cup, Euro Championships or as a coach trying to develop youth soccer in the United States.
Blane Shepard, AYSO’s director of community engagement and business development, has known Zein since the fall of 1995, just one year after the United States hosted its first World Cup.
Shepard has been with Zein to matches and finds himself amazed by the interactions he has before and after the final whistle blows.
“He’s a folk hero,” Shepard said. “Whether it’s a friendly international or a World Cup match, you get stopped every 10 minutes when he walks down the street before a match. Everyone knows him.”
Zein’s interactions with thousands of soccer fans and his travels across the globe fit into the life he’s lived as a coach, trainer and fan after a competitive career at UCLA, with the World Cup being the traveling pilgrimage he’s made every four years, reuniting with friends and associates across four decades.
Dreaming of soccer and early challenges
Zein was born in Egypt in 1952 and raised in the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco (retroceded into Morocco in 1956) before moving to Glendale, Arizona, at the age of 15.
As a boy, Zein dreamed of one day playing in the World Cup. In Morocco, Zein learned the game playing on the streets of Tetouan, a city known for being the former Spanish Protectorate’s capital and whose city is lined with mosques and churches with Andalusian architectural influences.
But his father wanted Zein to focus on school despite showing skills as a preteen and playing for Spanish Catholic elementary teams near Tetouan.
Zein faced more challenges when his family moved to the United States and he went to school in Arizona.
He played soccer at a time when the sport wasn’t popular and when available high school programs were scarce. He had to play in Arizona adult leagues and there were only five teams close to him.
“I have pictures of me playing against guys that were twice as big as me,” Zein said.
Soccer wasn’t popular among teenagers at the time, according to Zein.
“Classmates made fun of soccer,” Zein said. “They called it a communist sport and called it ‘Amerika’ with a ‘K’. It was considered a Mexican sport and they called it derogatory terms all the time. It’s a sissy sport. They’d yell, ‘What are you doing?’ ”
To adjust in his new country, Zein learned gridiron football and made the varsity team as a kicker.
“Arizona was tough at the time,” Zein said. “I played tennis and people would go by me and yell, ‘Sissy!’ You had to play either wrestling or American football, so I kicked on the football team. I learned to kick sideways and barefoot.”
Zein had a standout career as a midfielder at UCLA and guided the Bruins to two consecutive NCAA Tournament Championship runner-up finishes before beginning his high school coaching career in 1976.
The first World Cup in Mexico
Coaching and being an educator have allowed Zein to travel during the summer wherever the biggest matches in the world are played.
Zein carried three jobs while focusing on his role as a soccer coach in 1986 before attending his first World Cup. He was the head coach at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge, was a trainer for players, owned a soccer store in Montrose and on nights when he wasn’t coaching, taught ESL at East L.A. and Burbank adult schools.
Zein, through his multiple jobs and side hustles, saved enough money to begin what has become a 40-year tradition traveling across the globe.
“I stayed from the beginning in Mexico City to the final in Azteca,” Zein said. “For me, it’s about meeting people.”
Zein met three-time French National Player of the Year midfielder Alain Giresse during his first World Cup. It turns out, Zein and Giresse had more in common than they realized. Both men were born on Aug. 2, 1952.
Giresse struck up a friendship with Zein in Mexico after Zein decided to organize a match between himself and American kids attending the World Cup against waiters from a hotel in Mexico City. Giresse later invited Zein to participate in a camp he held in Bordeaux, France.
“I took American teams and we developed a friendship,” Zein said. “He told me to come visit his camps and I brought three or four American teams. We did that for four years.”
First high school coaching job in Boyle Heights
Before familiarity through the World Cup, Zein’s enthusiasm and passion for soccer was known. That spirit and hunger for winning showed on the field during his first high school head coaching job at Salesian High in Boyle Heights in 1976. Zein was only 20 years old.
Former Salesian player Ernie Mejia was in his freshman year in 1975 and one of the first players to understand Zein’s style. It was upbeat, aggressive and no-nonsense. Zein was also willing to do what most coaches wouldn’t do.
Like bringing an Egyptian-style heavy drum that was just small enough to fit on a school bus.
“He’d bang that drum and do all sorts of chants and he was really good at getting us all pumped up,” Mejia said. “And it worked. He had a lot of spirit. There’s coaches that coach but don’t get you fired up. He knows how to get the best out of them and do their best.”
Mejia would learn about Zein and his ability to unite people no matter their age or knowledge of soccer.
“He always got you to bring out the best of you,” Mejia said. “He showed us to be positive all the way through and give it 100% all the way through. At least you gave it all. I used that philosophy to never give up. Just keep going.”
The power of connection and reliability has translated into Zein’s ability to develop bonds and friendships at the World Cup. Mejia is one of the many thousands who tune into Zein’s social media pages on Facebook and Instagram, simply wondering: Where will his former coach be next?
“I message him occasionally and I joke with him and ask if he ever needs a helper to go to any of these games,” Mejia said. “You see where he goes and you just think, ‘Wow!’ The lives he’s touched through the game and for him to still have this energy even now, it’s simply amazing.”
Zein’s global impact
Zein’s impact is being felt on the global stage. Not only in his travels as a fan and ambassador of the sport but in his work as a coach.
Over 100 men and women have played for Zein and gone on to play in college or professionally.
Among former players who rose to the highest ranks internationally coaching was Afshin Ghotbi.
Ghotbi was the Iranian National Team head coach from 2009-2011 and previously held jobs as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team in 1998 and served as an L.A. Galaxy assistant for the 2004-05 season.
Before rising to international fame, Ghotbi had migrated from his home country of Iran in 1977.
His family eventually settled in Glendale and he met Zein as a 13-year-old.
Zein coached Ghotbi at Glendale High School before playing for UCLA.
“Players respect Cherif because he genuinely cared about helping them improve,” Ghotbi said. “His standards were high, his competitive demands were relentless, and he challenged every player to reach their potential.”
Ghotbi believes Zein was ahead of his time when it came to the coaching methods he used beginning at Salesian before his various stops throughout the Greater Los Angeles area.
“Cherif was a pioneer in technical development,” Ghotbi said. “His training focused on ball handling and speed of play. He created many 1v1 situations in small spaces, challenging his players to be comfortable on the ball, aggressive in duels and willing to take players on with direction and speed.”
Ghotbi himself began training youth players at 14 years old under Zein’s watch.
“Our relationship evolved from coach-player to mentor-colleague and friend,” Ghotbi said. “I worked with him as an assistant coach at his camps from age 14 to 20, helping train younger players. Those years gave me a deeper appreciation for teaching and developing young players.”
Mentor and friend have reunited again throughout the World Cup, with Ghotbi back in his second home of Los Angeles. He has appeared on Iranian television and streaming outlets providing commentary and analysis. The time in Los Angeles has also allowed Ghotbi to enjoy the company of Zein.
“It’s always special because we share a deep passion for the game, and our time together reminds me of the great memories of my teenage years playing and coaching in Southern California with a certain level of purity that is rare in modern football,” Ghotbi said.
Dr. Fadi and the traveling bonds of two soccer fans
For every adventurer comes a willing compatriot. That friend and fellow adventurer to Zein is Beverly Hills-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Fadi Chahin.
Chahin is joining Zein for the duo’s third straight World Cup after meeting each other during the UEFA European Championship in 2016 held in France.
The relationship started between merchant and buyer. Zein was in need of tickets and Chahin needed to sell his tickets after his youngest daughter was born.
With Chahin tending to his family, Zein could travel through France. Chahin eventually connected with Zein in France, enjoyed watching matches and began their World Cup quests together, touring Russia in 2018.
The two men talk and share their life experiences. A love for soccer and the lives Zein has touched with 54 years of coaching under his belt. Zein has also been known to help fans acquire tickets at discounted prices and to offer advice on the best places to eat and hotels to stay.
“When you’re with Cherif, everyone was happy,” Chahin said. “I wish I had someone to do those when I was a kid. Coincidentally, when you go to a lot of games and if any one of his friends need help, I help them. We try to help and connect people the best we can.”
The adventure continues for Zein
Zein will continue his 2026 World Cup with various stops throughout the United States, including the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium, now under the FIFA-approved name of New York New Jersey Stadium.
He watched the 2-0 USA victory over Australia in Seattle along with his trips to Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood and Azteca Stadium, which is officially Mexico City Stadium for the World Cup matches.
The love for traveling and watching soccer continues to be as much a part of Zein’s identity as the coaching and training he conducts.
But it’s the World Cup that continually captures and recaptures Zein’s imagination and gives him the space to invent and reinvent the game he sees in soccer. The World Cup is where sport is romanticized through the relationships and friendships he has built globally.
It’s the friendships, bonds and moments of joy with people that make Zein’s experience at the World Cup all the more human. He doesn’t cheer for a team. He cheers for the sport itself.
Quality passing, runs, fundamentals and the pictures he takes that get printed and become memorialized in photo albums in his home.
One album has pictures with everyone from stars like Christian Pulisic, Mohamed Salah and James Rodriguez to foreign dignitaries like former Hungary President Viktor Orban, to friends alike.
To Zein, relationships matter more than any result. Whether it’s a five-minute conversation or a phone call about the game, his availability has few limitations.
Soccer is his love, the World Cup is the stage, but it’s his love of humanity that connects all the pieces of his adventurous life.
“The World Cup gives me more oxygen and energy,” Zein said. “It gives you energy and hope.”
