“One team can bring so many people together.”
16-year-old, Marietta Native Erwin Perez reflects on how Atlanta United has touched and changed his life.
Perez lives in a home where soccer created a special bond among his brothers and Father.
“I grew up watching soccer a lot. It started with my dad mostly and watching Mexican soccer,” Perez shared.
Perez and his family connected over the beautiful game for his entire life. He started a Chivas fan because of his father, but finally, in 2014, Perez had a team to call his own— Atlanta United.
“I was in middle school,” Perez reminisced. “I remember that. I thought it was cool we were getting a team.”
The Perez family was all in from then on. From going to matches together -- including the inaugural match at Bobby Dodd Stadium -- to watching matches in their living room in matching kits.
“It was crazy,” Perez exclaimed. “You would never think in Atlanta there would be so many soccer fans because everyone said soccer would never work in the U.S. It is just crazy to see.”
Over the last few years, Perez’ admiration for the team continues to grow for himself and his family. On a family vacation three years ago in Orlando, his dad wore his Atlanta United kit to Universal Studios. He ran into four other 17s in their kit, too. They stopped and chatted about their team together.
Soccer has impacted his life from his fandom to now personal interests like graphic design. It drives his passion for graphic design which he picked up just a few years ago.
“I taught myself graphic design and photoshop in ninth grade,” Perez said. “I taught myself and took a graphic design course in high school.”
Since then, Perez has been running a few sports graphic design accounts on Instagram to showcase his talent and work. When the contest for the Atlanta United scarf of the month came up, he wondered about entering himself.
“You see competitions and think ‘aww, I should just try it. What are the chances I could win?’ I think I even turned it in a day late,” Perez stated with a laugh. “I wanted to try it anyway.”
Perez’ older brother Giovanni entered the scarf for him. They forgot about the submission for a while. One day, Giovanni checked his phone and had a message from Atlanta United to call him back about Erwin’s submission. He immediately called Erwin to tell him the news.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Erwin said.
Erwin’s design comes from his heart and displays the true meaning of the 5-Stripes. The scarf states ‘The Spikes Unites Us’ on one side and the other side has ‘Atlanta’ in the middle with ‘United’ in multiple languages. Perez’s inspirations comes back to his sentiments for the team: One team just can bring so many people together.
“I thought there are so many people not just in Georgia, but in the U.S., that come from different places,” Perez said with passion. “When you go to the game, there’s so many people from Central American countries, Africa and everywhere. One team can just bring so many people together. The word ‘United’ that’s not just our team name. That’s the entire fanbase. That’s everybody.”
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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