Choaib El karma: “My goal is to get more children outside, so the football fields will get full”.

First of all, would you like to introduce yourself to the public?

My name is Choaib El karma, I am 15 years old and come from Maasmechelen. Many people know me as Cho El Jackson. Here in Maasmechelen I can be found a lot outside because I play soccer a lot on the street.

When did you start playing street soccer?

In 2017 I started playing street soccer which means that I’ve been playing it for 3 years now and I haven’t been bored for a moment. I started playing street soccer because of the movies I saw of Touzani and Nasser el Jackson. When I saw these movies I thought it was so cool that I wanted to do the same as them. Now I am also part of the team of el Jackson.

Which countries have you visited through street soccer and where do you want to go?

Unfortunately I haven’t been anywhere because of street soccer. I would like to go again to Japan and somewhere in South America. In the future I would like to go to as many street soccer events as possible at home and abroad. I want to become a champion in the Netherlands first and then internationally. My international goal is to go to Brazil and participate in street soccer there. I find the fafelas in Brazil very special because you can still see the real rough street football here.

What’s a day in your life look like?  

In my daily life I go to school and in my spare time I play games and sports. Of course I train a lot to improve myself in the field of street football. Besides training I also do kickboxing and fitness. As I said before I haven’t been to any street soccer event.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years with street soccer / what would you like to achieve?

I still see myself in 5 years with street soccer. I hope to be world champion within that time. In addition, my goal is to get more children outside so they might play more soccer and therefore the soccer fields are full.

I want to go to as many street soccer events as possible in the next 5 years. I want to develop myself during these tournaments in order to reach my goal.