The club started because the alternative wasn't good enough
In 2023 a group of Chicagoland families kept running into the same two problems. The nearby recreational programs were affordable and welcoming, but their children stopped improving. The competitive clubs developed players properly, but the fees, the travel and the tone made them feel like somewhere their family did not quite belong.
So they started their own. Atlético Soledad was founded to be a club where a child from any family in the neighbourhood could get real coaching — not a watered-down version of it — in a place where their parents felt welcome and understood.
Three seasons later the club runs nine teams across the age groups from 4 to 12, competing in the Northern Illinois Soccer League and the Pathway League. It is still run by the same kind of people it was started for: parents and coaches from the same neighbourhoods, most of them volunteering their evenings and weekends.
The name comes from Soledad. The crest comes from Michoacán. Both are there on purpose, and both say the same thing — this club knows exactly who it is for.
