When it comes to American soccer, Clint Mathis has seen it all. An MLS legend who once scored for the U.S. at a FIFA World Cup –– he’s been there and done that. But as he sits in the stands at Mercedes-Benz Stadium watching Atlanta United, he admits he hasn’t seen anything like this.
“I never would have thought a soccer team or any sports team would make it like Atlanta United has done,” he says, awestruck. “I would love to be 15, 20 years younger and be out there instead of here on the sidelines, because this is absolutely amazing.”
Mathis grew up in Conyers, Georgia just outside of Atlanta. And while it’s just a few miles away from where the Five Stripes now play, it may as well be a different planet than the soccer world he grew up in as a child.
“Soccer was always big from my perspective, but realistically it wasn’t that big in Georgia. We had the Chiefs growing up, but I think they were done when I was like 2 or 3 years old. Then when I started out as a pro, you could barely watch it on TV or go to a game. Now it’s a spectacle, in this amazing stadium, and that’s what sports are supposed to be.”
Mathis played in the early stages of MLS, back when the league –– and the sport –– was still gaining its footing on American soil. He says it’s an entirely different experience than what he played in back then.
“Now it’s on the tip of everybody’s tongue, it’s just an exciting time. You have older legends like Rooney or Ibrahimovic, but you also have guys like Josef Martinez and Miguel Almirón: very, very good players that are coming at a young age to play in a league that at one time people weren’t sure would last. The fact that it’s been here this long and the fact that its grown this rapidly, it’s just amazing.”
But he says the sport’s explosive growth is most apparent in Atlanta, and that’s thanks in large part to the birth of Atlanta United.
“I grew up around the Braves, the Falcons, the Atlanta Hawks –– I was even the ball boy for the Atlanta Attack –– and you’d just never see anything like this. But the whole city and the fans have gotten behind Atlanta United and made this just an amazing experience.”
Mathis sported a mohawk in his playing days, but is a little quieter now, though he’s still quick with a laugh. Too humble to accept the spotlight, he downplays his role in the growth of the sport. But as a newly-named member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, he takes pride in the part he played in soccer in the South.
“As a kid I just wanted to play soccer. It wasn’t anything deeper than that, I just loved it. But now to have a plaque on the wall next to the people that helped me grow is great. It’s been an amazing feeling to be able to pass on the torch. These guys started paving the road a long time ago. Maybe it started as a dirt path, it was bumpy and rough. But each year it gets better, and we continue to make it better for the future to make that path grow stronger.”
Mathis concedes that he wouldn’t have expected to see soccer in the South grow the way it has in his wildest dreams. But he says it’s part of a generational shift that’s only just getting started.
“Back in 1994, I was a young kid inspired by the World Cup. I have kids now, and I show them soccer and they’re around it all the time now. It’s been the number one sport for youth for decades, now those kids are growing up and being parents and introducing their kids to it. But the fact that it’s happening here in Atlanta at this kind of magnitude is awesome.”
The Georgia native is engaged and generous with his time, but can’t help but steal occasional glances at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium pitch. Shaking his head as if he were in a dream, he repeats the same thing he said when the interview began.
“I just wish I was young enough to be able to still be playing in this stadium. I wouldn’t have ever dreamt this in a million of years when I was a young kid.”
Mathis’ playing days may be behind him, but there were plenty of kids in the stadium that day that now have something to aspire to, the all-important hometown team. Who knows if that would’ve been possible without that mohawk-ed young striker from Conyers and countless others like him, before and after. But because of them, and because of Atlanta United, young soccer players in the South now have reason to dream.
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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