⚽0️⃣6️⃣2️⃣ Zohair Ghenania
Meet Zohair Ghenania, Founder and President of the FFF Academy New York who is creating new transatlantic plays by mixing education and football (soccer).
From his childhood in Le Mans to the fields of Randall’s Island, the former player, coach, and trainer has used sport as a tool to develop a scholastic and humanistic education. In 2006, he arrived in New York to teach economics at the Lycée Français New York, the first chapter of a nearly two-decade long mission to bring the ethos and values of French football to New York City’s diverse demographics.
Zohair’s Story
Zohair grew up playing football, just like so many other kids across France, even though his hometown is far better known for its famed racetrack and the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance motor race. It was helpful that there were football pitches easily available, “it became part of my DNA,” he recalled of his early pathway into the game. He not only played; he also watched World Cup Games, Champions League matches, and more. “I analyzed and discussed with my friends–that’s how I built my passion for football,” he said.
He also grew up watching the city’s famed basketball club, Le Mans-Sarthe Basket (MSB), which won national championship titles in 1978, 1979, and 1982 with rookie Vincent Collet (who later coached the men’s national team to two Olympic silver medals). “It was great, because they were always at the top of their league with amazing American basketball players,” Zohair remembered. “The American players brought a dynamic energy and introduced techniques that were new to us as spectators and to the French players, which made the games even more engaging and exciting to watch.” He adored the show, but football remained his passion.
Zohair played with his third-division club, then with Le Mans Université during his undergraduate years. University sport in France is vastly different from its American counterpart, closer to what U.S. audiences would think of as intramural sports. Still, Zohair captained his squad in 1994 and they won the French university league. “It was a great experience, great memories, to have with my friends,” he said. It illustrated the types of emotions and ties that crafting the game together could cultivate.
After graduation, Zohair earned his master’s degree in economics and played semi-professionally in France’s third and fourth divisions. “All my life, it was a balance between education and soccer,” he reflected. That equation meant a balancing act between his responsibilities as an economics teacher in Brittany and playing with the reserve team of FC Lorient. “That was my life for a decade, and I loved it! It was the perfect balance for me.”
Yet, after 2004, he began to think about what other experiences he could create through the blend of education and sport. That eventually led to an international adventure: in 2006, Zohair was recruited to teach in New York.
The Sports Diplomacy Connection
With French international Youri Djorkaeff (right). Photo: Zohair Ghenania.
Since then, Zohair has served as a type of sports diplomat in representing the values and ideals of French football in New York. In the process, he’s learned much about the United States and the New York region through the game. At first there was some cultural shock, he admitted, particularly around the very different way of youth sports governance and organization–a far more grassroots approach than what he was used to back home.
“But if you want to do something right, you have to understand the culture,” he noted. “For me, it was trying to understand how Americans think, what they believe, and to try to bring some of my ideas into the mix.”
He coached a club called Kickers, which provided intimate knowledge and understanding of youth football leagues, parental mindset, and the outlook of the kids themselves. One of the things he loved is how sports are ingrained as valuable parts of U.S. culture.
“In the United States, they have a super system behind sports and the family is supportive. The parents organize and show up for the kids’ games. If you are an athlete, you are respected and you are valued. In France, if you are an athlete, you do not have that same level of respect. Instead, you need to be academic, you need to be intellectual.”
Through that experience, he identified gaps that inspired him to create FFF Academy NYC—an organization designed to connect French methodology with New York’s grassroots dynamism. “It still takes into consideration American culture–and specifically New York culture” he said.
“I love New York’s diversity, it is amazing. And you can see that diversity in my club. We have 40, 50 different nationalities [at the FFF Academy New York]. People are from everywhere. But it isn’t a ‘French’ club in New York. It is a New York club with French values and curriculum.”
He noted some of the key differentials between youth soccer in France and the United States–organizational and governance structures aside. It is there in the way kids develop in the game. “In France, kids play a lot so they develop a lot of technical skills like dribbling. They are also creative,” he explained of how youths hone their craft in a very ad hoc way playing informally with their friends outside of team practices. “American players have remarkable athletic ability,” he noted. “Our goal is to complement that with the fine motor and creative aspects characteristic of French training.”
“Through football, we showcase another facet of France’s identity—discipline, creativity, and community spirit—and share it with New York’s next generation.”
For Zohair, his work as a sports diplomat is also to contribute to the rayonnement of France through sports. As part of France’s cultural diplomacy ecosystem, FFF Academy NYC acts as a bridge that promotes shared values of education, respect, and collective excellence through sport.
Ghenania with Jean-Claude Lafargue, the former director of Clairefontaine (France’s National Football Institute). Photo: Zohair Ghenania.
“France is known for the food, the wine, the cheese, the luxury brands and image, but they are also known for the national team,” he noted. No other country except France has played four FIFA World Cup finals in the last quarter century. And that grabs people’s attention.
“Everyone is intrigued,” he confessed, “by the French way of playing and bringing a little bit of the French soccer ethos to New York City is a way to bring a certain idea of soccer–which is excellence and also elegance.”
Zohair noted the biggest French football ambassadors of Zinédine Zidane and Thierry Henry. “For me, they are inspirational in terms of elegance and excellence. So I’m bringing this idea to New York City and to the United States.”
The values of French football are embedded in the game, and for Zohair, they orbit around tolerance, diversity, and unity. That’s on display via Les Bleus as well as within French football itself.
It is that ethos and equation that Zohair tries to cultivate through his work at FFF Academy New York. “We have different social backgrounds, religious backgrounds, and we play for the same team. That’s the idea that I wanted to do in New York City and that’s why we have an Inclusive Scholarship Program,” he noted of an initiative that enables participation from youths across diverse ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. “It is an embodiment of sport as a tool for respect, inclusion, and opportunity.”
That’s a vital consideration. “In our club,” Zohair detailed, “we emphasize the importance of sport in promoting dialogue, combating discrimination, and celebrating multicultural communities through soccer, regardless of whether that’s in New York or abroad.”
Mapping the Connection
From Le Mans, France to New York, NY
Further Reading/Resources
[E] Interview with the author, October 10, 2025
[E] “French Success,” French Consulate General of New York, May 2021.
[E] “Meet Zohair Ghenania, Technical Director of the French Football Academy in New York!” French Football Academy New York.
How to Cite This Entry
Krasnoff, Lindsay Sarah. “Voices: Zohair Ghenania,” FranceAndUS, https://www.franceussports.com/voices/062-zohair-ghenania. (date of consultation).