‘Not the traditional equipment manager:’ NCFC stalwart travels different path

When Donovan Ewolo arrived from Cameroon to play for North Carolina FC in 2018, he had a little trouble getting on the same page with his teammates and coaches. His English had not quite caught up with his soccer.

Ewolo would go on to score seven goals that season for NCFC, thanks in part to an assistant equipment manager from Morocco who speaks four different languages.

Youssef Dahouz, NCFC’s third-longest tenured employee, has taken an unassuming job full of mundane tasks and turned it into so much else: translator, facilitator, instigator, traveler, character.

Serving as an interpreter for foreign players is not part of the job description, but that’s what Dahouz did a season ago with Ewolo and what he’s done for plenty others since he arrived at the club then known as the Carolina RailHawks in 2011. He grew up with Arabic and French in Morocco and also knows Spanish. His English, he says, is the weakest of the four.

“Not like the traditional equipment manager,” Dahouz said of himself. “Most of them, they’re not going to do this job, you know. They’re gonna just do their job, but they’re not going to speak different languages.”

Or travel to 26-plus countries. Or indirectly play a role in a player appearing for his country in a World Cup qualifier. Or earn a red card in a match.

Dahouz, 45, has done all that and more in his atypical career at NCFC, one he stumbled into eight years ago out of curiosity and a willingness to help a friend.

Dahouz does a lot of joking, capable of lightening the mood wherever he goes with something funny to say and a smile. On the practice field and in the locker room, he’ll banter with the players, “within the limit of respect,” of course.

“It’s like family,” Dahouz said.

When Dahouz moved to the United States from Morocco in 1998, soccer made him feel at home in a new place. He started playing in as many pickup games as possible. Upon moving to the Triangle from Virginia, the fields at N.C. State became his go-to spot. That’s where Dahouz and former RailHawks equipment manager Andy Dunbar first met, later becoming teammates in rec games. But Dahouz noticed something was amiss with Dunbar, who now works in MLS for the San Jose Earthquakes.

“He used to come maybe 15 minutes before and then he’d leave early,” Dahouz said.

Dunbar explained it was because of his job with the RailHawks, and Dahouz began volunteering to help.

“Basically, he never left after that one day,” Dunbar said.

What keeps Dahouz going? The game itself, sure – but also the interactions with the people he sees on a daily basis. It’s not lost on Dahouz that all these years later, his life revolves around soccer, the game he fell in love with growing up watching Diego Maradona. Soccer still brings him joy, which was clear as day at the end of a recent practice as he had a kick himself with several players.

“Just soccer,” he said. “That’s what I do in my life.”

In addition to his work with the team, Dahouz also helps run summer camps through NCFC Youth and assists with Elite Technique, a training program for players aged 10-18.

But the relationships and the chance to learn from people of all backgrounds globally – something perhaps unique to soccer compared to most sports in America – is what’s most appealing.

“It’s very interesting,” Dahouz said. “There are a lot of internationals here and I love languages.”

With his big Afro, Dahouz is hard to miss. And after just one interaction, he’s hard to forget.

“People recognize him, they know him,” NCFC captain Austin da Luz said. “He stops and has conversations. It doesn’t matter where you are, he knows everyone and everyone loves him.”

Dahouz said a former colleague once got out of a speeding ticket when the officer noticed the RailHawks bumper sticker and asked, “Do you know Youssef?”

“He’s always the first one to ask if someone needs help,” Dunbar said.

Nick Millington is now an associate at a New York law practice, having retired in 2014 after three seasons with the RailHawks, but not before he played for the Guyana national team in a World Cup qualifier against Mexico in 2012.

As a teen, Millington was a member of the U.S. youth national team but never received a call-up to the senior team. But one day in the locker room, Dahouz kept trying to convince Millington to play for Guyana, his father’s home nation.

“I was just joking with one of the players,” Dahouz said.

RailHawks captain Chris Nurse was also the captain of Guyana. He had no idea Millington was eligible to represent Guyana. Dahouz’s joking ended up leading to the most memorable moment of Millington’s soccer career.

Dahouz has a memorable career moment of his own. Nearly six years ago, the RailHawks found themselves trailing the Tampa Bay Rowdies late in a match before ultimately winning 2-1 thanks to a pair of goals in the closing minutes.

Dahouz couldn’t hold back.

“I jumped in the field on a player with happiness, and I think the linesman saw me or something and said one of the staff went on the field,” Dahouz said. “I didn’t even know about it until they said, ‘Oh, you got a red card.’ It was 92nd minute.”

The next home match, one of Dunbar’s friends made a ‘Free Youssef’ banner and brought it to WakeMed Soccer Park.

“That was really, really funny,” Dahouz said.

Even the jokester had to laugh at himself.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 11:18 AM.