Meet Our Coaches

• Ignace "Iggy" Moleka

  Director of Soccer

  Iggy@unitedfa.org

  USSF A License | Coerver Youth Diploma

  Playing History:

  Florida International University
  Albirex Niigata (Japan)
  Atlanta Silverback
  Congolese National Team

  Playing History:

  23 + years of coaching boys and girls in ODP, National League, Development Academy and ECNL.

• Jose 'Gaucho' Pinho

  Corporate Facilities Director

  Gaucho@unitedfa.org

  USSF B License | Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma

  Playing History:

  Gaucho Pinho began playing professionally in Brazil with Flamengo from 1986-93. He went on to play for Botafogo from 1994-95, Nova Iguacu F.C. in 1996-97. He played for Brazil¹s national team as a youth player, earning 15 caps. Pinho was a goalkeeper coach for professional teams in Brazil following his playing career. Pinho was the Director of the Zico Soccer Academy and a coordinator for Zico¹s Inner City program that taught soccer and life skills.

  Coaching History:

  Gaucho was the Georgia State University Goalkeeper and Fitness Coach. He was also the Goalkeeper Coach for the Georgia Amateur Select team, a Georgia Soccer ODP staff coach, West Ham Regional Coach/Recruiter and served as Director of the FFSC Select Program. Silverbacks Goalkeeper coach from 2007-2013 with two finalist titles. Gaucho is a top-level coach and well known in the nation. His many accomplishments include Showcase tournament,  2013 U13 third place at the Nationals Championship, State Cup Championships 2013-2014, Regional Champions 2013-2014 and 2015 finalist  and won a National Championship in 2014 with the U14B, Premier.  2015 third place at Nationals. 2015 Adidas Generation Champions receiving a trip to Madrid. Four years in a row participating at National Finals 2013-2014-2015-2016. Gaucho Pinho is currently the Executive Director of Player Development and Facility Director at the United Futbol Academy.

   

• Don Schultz

  Director of Corporate Services

  Don@unitedfa.org

  USSF A-Youth License | NSCAA Premier Diploma | USSF Youth License | Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma

  Playing History:

  Don grew up playing soccer in Southern California starting at the age of 10. Coaches played a key role in his desire to be his best. As a sophomore playing on his high school’s varsity team, soccer was Don’s main sport outside of surfing. While playing in a half-time match during San Diego Socker’s indoor game, Don suffered an injury resulting in cartilage damage. His competitive play suffered as a result, but Don continues to play as an adult in both indoor and outdoor soccer at various leagues including the Fusion, Silverbacks, ASA and Stars.

  Coaching History:

  Don has now been coaching youth soccer for over 20 years, oversaw the operations of the Forsyth Fusion Soccer Club and is now serving as the Executive Director of Business Services for United Futbol Academy. Don was also named 99 Girls State ODP coach in 2012.

• Jason P. Smith

  ECNL Boys Director

  Jason@unitedfa.org

  USSF A License 

  Playing History:

  Coach Smith is an Atlanta native who grew up playing soccer in the Atlanta area with clubs such as Concorde, Datagraphic, and TYSA Genesis as well as GA ODP. His high school stops included the soccer and football programs at Stone Mountain and Berkmar. Collegiately, Smith played at 3 different universities including Kennesaw State (the only year they sponsored a Men’s Soccer program – 1986), Truett-McConnell, and Lander earning All-Conference and All-Region honors. Smith played six years semi-professionally with various Atlanta-based franchises in the USISL including the Atlanta Magic, Atlanta Lightning, Atlanta Quicksilver, Team Xara, Georgia Steamers, and Atlanta Express. The Atlanta native also spent a short stint in the NPSL professional indoor league with the Tulsa Ambush.

  Coaching Experience:

  At this point, Coach Smith has accumulated over 30 years of coaching experience. Professionally, he led the Atlanta Silverbacks from 2005 to 2009 as the Head Coach and General Manager. Smith coached the club to numerous franchise records including a USL First Division League Runner-Up finish in 2007. Outside of league play, the Atlanta Silverbacks provided the opportunity to coach against several renown international clubs such as Independiente, Cruz Azul, Pachuca, Monterrey, and Olympia. He had a brief return to coach the Atlanta Silverbacks in the NASL for 12 matches in the 2014 campaign.

  Collegiately, Coach Smith began his career as the Head Coach at Piedmont College for both the Men’s and Women’s programs in 1993. He stayed for 12 seasons through the Fall of 2004 essentially developing Piedmont from its infancy to National prominence winning 11 Conference Championships and 3 Region Championships between the two programs. In 2019, Coach Smith was inducted into the Piedmont College Athletic Hall of Fame. After the Atlanta Silverbacks temporarily folded in 2009, Smith returned to college athletics from 2010 to 2012 with the Pfeiffer University Men’s Soccer program while serving as the Assistant Athletics Director as well. He has coached over 500 collegiate games carrying an overall coaching record of 297 wins, 219 loses, and 26 ties.

  Coach Smith remained involved with youth level throughout his coaching career beginning with local camp work back the 1980’s under Atlanta area greats such as Adrian Brooks and Mike Balson. Over the years, he has worked with serval local clubs including LSA, GFC, AFU, GSA, NTH and of course UFA. Administratively, Smith has served as the Director of Coaching, ECNL Director, and Executive Director while coaching within these organizations. Likewise, he has remained heavily involved with the Olympic Development Program. Coach Smith has been a head coach both Georgia and North Carolina ODP over the years and has been a member of the South Region staff for the past 8 years. Coach Smith is currently the assistant coach for both the 2002 and 2003 Boy’s ODP South Region team. Locally, his teams have won numerous championships including a Super Y National Championship in 2016. Recently, Smith’s GA 2008 Boy’s ODP team won the South Regional.

  Personal Information:

  Coach Smith has been married for 27 years to his wife Kimberly and have 3 sons together; Eamonn, Aidann, and Iann. All three boys played youth soccer in the Atlanta area. His oldest son, Eamonn, was also a 4-year collegiate athlete graduating from Clayton State University and the Laker’s Men’s Soccer program in 2016. His youngest son, Iann, played several years at UFA in Forsyth. Coach Smith holds two undergraduate degrees in Literature and History as well as a Masters’ degree in Public Administration.

• Alex Pineda Chacon

  Asst. Boys ECNL Director
• Robin Dixon

  Select Director

  Robin@unitedfa.org

  USSF A License

  Coaching History:

  Robin has been involved in developing soccer players at the youth level for over 20 years. He began coaching while playing collegiately at Wake Forest in the early 90’s. He then worked 6 years with Baton Rouge United as the Assistant Director followed by five years with the New Orleans Soccer Academy as both the Boys’ Director and the Developmental Program Director (ages 4-10).  Robin Dixon joined the Norcross Soccer Academy (now UFA-Norcross) Coaching Staff after 6 years at AFC Lightning where he was hired as the Director of Player Development in 2004. Shortly thereafter, he was named the Director of the Boys’ Program in 2006 serving in this capacity through the 2009-10 season.

  Robin has extensive experience at every level of youth soccer development from the 4 year old beginners to the experienced College players. He has had the opportunity to coach 10 teams to State Championships, 2 RPL Champions and has been a part of several Region III medal winners. 
• Lizzy Schmidt

  Girls Select Director

  Lizzy@unitedfa.org

  USSF B License

   

  Coach Lizzy Schmidt (formerly Shaughnessy) has been a member of the UFA family since 2017. In her time with UFA she has coached varying ages and levels from Future Academy to Development Academy and ECNL and everything in between. She is the head of the video department for ECNL boys and girls teams and operates the UFA ECNL Instagram and Twitter accounts. In 2019 she earned U.S. Soccer's B License and in 2015 earned the Premier Diploma from the United Soccer Coaches Association. In 2015-2016 she was a part of United Soccer Coaches 30 Under 30 Program which recognizes top 15 male and 15 females coaches under the age of 30. She has experience coaching high school soccer and is twice state runner-up as head coach.  As a player she attended Lassiter High School before being a 4-year starter at Mercer University where she was a part of the team that earned the program's first NCAA Tournament Bid in 2010 and regular season conference champions in 2008. After college she played for 3 seasons in the WPSL. She played 2 seasons with Chattanooga FC and one season with the Atlanta Silverbacks. Two out of the 3 seasons her team was WPSL Southeast Conference Champions. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in math from Mercer University and a master's of education degree from the University of Georgia in Math Education. Outside of coaching soccer she is also a high school math teacher. 
• Velko Iotov

  Director of Academy & Future Academy

  Velko@unitedfa.org

  1994 World Cup Bronze medalist, Velko Iotov.
   USSF B License | Coerver Youth Diploma | Director Tecnico National De Futbol ATFA

  Playing History:

  Silverbacks 2002 MVP, Bulgarian International, Velko has been a sterling performer for the Silverbacks. Velko’s resume is undoubtedly one of the most impressive in the league. Following a spot on the U16 Bulgarian National team, he was also a part of the U19 Olympic team.  A member of the 1994 Bulgarian World Cup team that reached the semi-finals, Velko has also played for Espanol  de Barcelona of La Liga and Newell’s Old Boys of Argentina. After two years with the Charleston Battery, he joined the Silverbacks in 2002. Velko's professional career of 18 years playing in the highest level in soccer is impressive, winning championships in Bulgaria, Spain, Argentina and USA total of 8 major trophies.

  Coaching History:

  Coach Iotov has coached as a professional coach of Developmental, Classic, and Athena teams since 2005. His dedication to developing players makes a big difference in the Atlanta area . His hard work brings teams to play in National League and Regional competitions as well to State Cup finals and a lot of the major tournament competitions. Now, he is the Director of the Future Academy program and will continue to develop high level players. 

  For more info about Coach Velko Iotov, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velko_Yotov

• Rudi Pires

  North Program Director

  Coach Rudi is a passionate individual with a profound love for soccer and a wealth of coaching experience. He was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is where his love for soccer began. Rudi earned a BSc and a Masters Degree in Sports Science from the University of Johannesburg, and a BSc in Exercise Science from the University of North Georgia. 

   

  During his impressive 16-year coaching career, he has achieved expertise in both soccer and futsal. As a result, he has become a recognized and admired figure in the soccer community.

   

  As a player, Coach Rudi showcased his skills and proudly represented the South African youth national team as well as prestigious clubs such as Platinum Stars in South Africa and FC Porto in Portugal.
• Carlos Felix

  High Performance Director

  felix@unitedfa.org

  About Coach Felix:

  Bachelor in Physical Education Teacher

  Performance Enhancement Specialist - NASM

  Certified Functional Strength Coach - MBSC

  +10 years of experience as a High-Performance Coach

• Dan Dawson

  Director of Summer League

  Dan@unitedfa.org

  USSF A-Youth License

  Playing History:

  Dan is from London, England and grew up playing in the Crystal Palace Academy before playing for Semi-Professional Cray Wanderers in their youth team, Dan became the youngest player to represent the first team at age 15 in a Preseason tournament. Dan moved to Atlanta to play collegiate Soccer for Truett McConnell College and then moving to Conway, Arkansas to play for Central Baptist College earning the defense MVP award his senior year.

  Coaching History:

  He then started coaching at Arkansas Utd in their academy program before returning to Atlanta and joining UFA in 2014. Dan was the Goalkeeper coach for Georgia State University Men's Soccer team in 2014 before he moved to coach the Atlanta Silverbacks Goalkeepers in the 2015 NASL season. Dan coaches for Coerver, currently has coached Academy, SCCL, Development Academy and now ECNL teams.

• Bryce Billington

  ECNL GK Coach

  Advanced National GK Diploma

  Playing History:

  Played in Scotland for Aberdeen on the Scottish Premier League.
  Played professionally for the Atlanta Silverbacks for two years. 
  
  Coaching History:

  Coach Bryce has been coaching for 10 years and joined UFA in 2014. He was the head of Boys DA goalkeeping and is now the head of the ECNL boys/girls goalkeeping training program.

• Jose Cherres

  Staff Coach
• Carnel Creary

  Staff Coach

  USSF B License

  Playing History:

  Jamaican Premier League 
  Passaic County Community College 

  Coaching History:

  Gwinnett Soccer Association (GSA) 2019-2023
  ECNL-RL & Academy (Several teams)
  World Class FC: 2000 - 2019 (Several levels including ECNL)
  Arsenal FC (NJ): 2004 - 2013

  Joined United Futbol Academy in 2023.
  
  
  
   

• Jodi DaCosta

  Staff Coach

  USSF D License
• Raul Diaz Arce

  Staff Coach

  USSF A License

  Playing History:

  Profesional Soccer player for 18 years

  Coaching History:

  Coach Raul served Assistant Coach for U17 USMNT for 5 years and has been a coach at UFA now for many years.

   

• Phoday "FD" Dolleh

  Staff Coach
• Kevin Florea

  Staff Coach

  Playing History:

  Georgia Perimeter College

  Coaching History:

  United Futbol Academy - Future Academy - U19 (all levels)
  East Forsyth High School, Varsity Girls

• Asmir Kokorovic

  Staff Coach

  USSF A License

  Playing History:

  Coach Asmir started playing at F.K. Radnik Bijeljina Bosnia Hercegovina, before moving to play professionally in Germany. In Germany, Coach Asmir played for S.V. Stern Britz 1889 for three seasons before moving to BFC Preussen Berlin 1894 where he played for two seasons. Coach Asmir then joined Turkiyemspor Berlin where he played for another 2 seasons in the Bundesliga Nord Ost. 

  Coaching History:

  Coach Asmir has over 25 years of coaching experience with professional as well as youth soccer teams. Coach Asmir coached at Roswell Santos, Stars Soccer Club, Georgia Rush, Milton High school. Coach Asmir has been with UFA since 2010. At UFA coach Asmir is coaching both Girls and Boys teams. 

• Mike LaBerge

  Staff Coach
• Victor Lane

  Staff Coach

  USSF C License

  Playing History:

  2x Georgia High School State Champion (2000, 2001 - Athens Academy)
  1x Georgia High School State Runner Up (1999 - Athens Academy)

  Coaching History:

  Middle School Boys Head Coach (2007 - Athens Academy)
  High School Assistant Coach (2009 - Morgan County, 2013, 2017, 2021 - Buford)
  High School Varsity Head Coach (2010-2012 - Greene County, 2014-2016, 2020 - Buford)
  2016 GHSA Final Four
  7 All Gwinnett County Players
  8 All Region First Team Players
  Joining UFA in 2023.

• Dimitri Leger

  Staff Coach
• Logan LeSueur

  Staff Coach
• Jose Linares

  Staff Coach

  USSF D License

  Playing History:

  I grew up playing club ball at UFA. Then played my collegiate career at Piedmont University. Continued to play ADASL & UPSL for several teams. 

  Coaching History:

  Jose joined UFA in 2021 and will begin his third year coaching at UFA this fall.

• Christian Loera

  Staff Coach
• John Luzny

  Staff Coach

  USSF D License

  Playing History:

  Played for various clubs in Georgia growing up in the 90s as well as state championship winning high school squads. Playing career ended at the collegiate level. 

  Coaching History:

  Started at UFA as a player parent in 2017 and joined the coaching staff in 2023.

• Sergio Magana

  Staff Coach

  USSF B License

  USSF B License, United Soccer Coaches Premier Diploma 

  Playing History:

  Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sergio played for Atlas F.C. youth division before signing with the clubs Professional side of the Mexican First Division Liga MX. 

  Coaching History:

  Youth 2019 US Club National Champion

  Sergio has worked with UFA since 2012.

• Christina McCoy

  Staff Coach
• Kelly McCoy

  Staff Coach
• Lovie Milsap

  Staff Coach

  USSF D License

  Playing History:

  Played in High School and Military

  Coaching History:

  Coach Lovie has coached teams to three SCCL Cup finals. One State Cup Championship. Three Regional Championships and one Nationals Final Four.

  He joined UFA as a parent many years ago and then joined the UFA coaching staff in 2017.

   

• Meg Morris

  ECNL Coach
• Nkiru Okosieme (NK)

  Staff Coach

  USSF A, National GK Licence

  Playing History:

  Played World Cup 1991, 1995, 2003 (Super Falcons of Nigeria); 2000 Olympics; Won 3 African Women Championships.

  Coaching History:

  I have more than 15 years of coaching experience and joined UFA over 10 years ago. I have coached at different levels boys and girls in Academy & Select.

   

• Stephen Paul

  Academy Scheduler/Staff Coach

  USSF C License, NSCAA Premier
• Andrzej Przybyla

  Staff Coach

  D License

  Playing History:

  U10-U19 2nd Division Pro Club in Poland

  Coaching History:

  Coaching youth soccer since 2009.

  Founder, Technical Director and Coach of the Celtics SC, youth academy club in PA.

  Coached youth teams in Liverpool UK.

  Joined UFA in 2021.

• Renata Peixoto

  Asst. to Director of ECNL

  Brazil B License

  Playing History:

  Collegiate in the US & Professional in Brazil

  Coaching History:

  Thomas University Assistant Coach

  UFA, various levels of teams including Regional League

• Austin Rainey

  Academy/Select GK Coach
• David Roel

  Staff Coach
• Rafiq Sabir

  ECNL Coach

  USSF B License

  USSF B License | National Youth Lic | Coerver Youth Diploma

  Playing History:

  Howard University, Division 1 
  Trinidad & Tobago Super League - San Fernando Giants

  Coaching History:

  Coach Rafiq has spent 14 years at UFA developing talent at the academy level, many of which have moved on to MLS academies across the US and collegiate programs. He has had the opportunity to coach teams to SCCL championships and many other major tournaments such as Jefferson Cup and CASL and has a history of developing and nurturing talent in the Atlanta area. 

   

  Successful business owner and father of three soccer playing daughters
• Floyd "Bruce" Sale

  Staff Coach

  Playing History:

  Coach Bruce played in Academy and College.

  Coaching History:

  Coach Bruce joined UFA in 2020.

• Jacob Sharp

  Staff Coach

  D License

  Playing History:

  Played for ASA and UFA from the start of my playing days until I graduated and went to college.
  Truett McConnell University Men’s Soccer 
  Conference Champions 2017

  Coaching History:

  Coached two years of the Future Academy with UFA and now a full-time academy coach for UFA.

• Sheriff Suma

  Staff Coach

  Grassroots License

  Playing History:

  17 years as a professional player

  Coaching History:

  3 1/2 years as a youth coach

  Sheriff is now joining UFA is 2023.

• Andy Wade

  Staff Coach
• Bryan Waltenburg

  Staff Coach

  USSF A License

  Bryan’s wealth of experience in the soccer world has fostered a unique passion and commitment to the youth soccer landscape. He brings 25 years of coaching and leadership experience to UFA Norcross, having coached National Championship level teams all the way down to Academy under nines. He has been coaching in the Forsyth Branch for the last 5 years at the NPL/SAPL and ECNL Regional levels and currently holds a USSF “A” National License. In addition to coaching, Bryan has also served in various management/directorial roles including operations, marketing communications, events, technical/curriculum development/implementation and business development within the youth soccer and other various corporate sectors.

• Drew Wardle

  Staff Coach

  Playing History:

  Coach Drew played soccer at UFA most of his youth.

  Coaching History:

  East Forsyth High School Coach

  He then join United Futbol Academy as a Coach in 2022.