There are very few similarities between the cities of Chicago and Zürich. The latter is a picturesque European town steeped in history and surrounded by mountains and is home to less than half a million people. On the contrary, Chicago has a metro area population larger than the entire country of Switzerland and hardly has a building older than the last century.
For 24-year-old Swiss winger Maren Haile-Selassie, the Windy City is his first taste of life outside of his homeland, having joined the Chicago Fire ahead of this season. Six months on from his arrival, he’s made a big impact on his debut season in Major League Soccer and is enjoying his time playing in a new and very different environment.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Haile-Selassie says. “It’s a great city and a very big country… when I got here, they told me the lake is as big as Switzerland!”
Though Haile-Selassie spent his entire career domestically prior to the move overseas, his journey early in his career was influenced by a variety of different cultural flavors, and he’s had many different types of experiences even within his home country. The son of two Ethiopian immigrants (who have no direct connection to the famed emperor of the same name, to his knowledge), he began playing youth soccer in his city of birth at the academy of FC Zürich, rising through the ranks from the age of seven before breaking into the first team at 18.
Switzerland has the quirk of being a nation that, despite its small size, has four official languages; German, French, and Italian are all predominantly spoken in certain regions (Romansch is the fourth). Haile-Selassie has, incredibly, played in cities that speak all three major languages. His first permanent move away from FCZ was to French-speaking Neuchâtel Xamax on the other side of the country, where he established himself as a first team player and earned a move to FC Lugano, one of the top teams in the league.
“Lugano is very different from the north, it’s a different culture,” says Haile-Selassie. “I had to adapt because the language is completely different, and they don’t really speak other languages besides Italian. In the parts of Switzerland where they speak French and Italian, they demand you to speak the language to learn it. It helped me in that way, but it was a good experience. I learned a lot. We won the [Swiss] Cup with Lugano. It was the first after 32 years I was able to score in the final as well and had a huge contribution to that success.”
A few months before Haile-Selassie made his way south to Lugano, the club was in the headlines when they were purchased by Joe Mansueto, who also owns the Fire. At the same time that Haile-Selassie joined from Xamax, Ignacio Aliseda arrived from Chicago, and the pair both contributed to a historically successful season. Six months later, the opportunity for Haile-Selassie to go across the Atlantic presented itself.
“When I moved to Lugano, I wouldn’t say that it was my goal maybe to go afterward to Chicago, I just went to Lugano because I thought it was a good step for my development. When I first heard of the interest, I was kind of surprised because I wasn’t thinking of that… we had good talks, they convinced me, and I was ready to come here.”
“I followed the progression of MLS, and it’s been amazing how it’s developing. Before, it was more known in Europe as a league that welcomes older players towards the end of their careers; now it’s a great league with promising young talents and amazing players… we learn about the MLS, especially also because a big Swiss National Team player has recently joined the Fire.”
The player in question was, of course, Xherdan Shaqiri, who trails just Roger Federer as not just one of the most recognizable sportsmen but people in Switzerland. Though he hasn’t hit the ground running in his first year-and-a-half, Shaqiri’s impact has been felt, and it has provided Haile-Selassie with an opportunity to play alongside one of the stars of his national team.
“I first met him actually in Lugano because he came to train before the World Cup,” says Haile-Selassie. “I don’t know if I was surprised, but when that kind of player comes to train and he’s fitting in right away and tries to make it easy to speak to all the guys. It made a good impression on me. When I came here, he helped me as well at the beginning, and we went out a couple of times, and he helped me on the field. I like to play with him, but day in and day out, we kind of get used to it, so you don’t think about it.”
“But, yeah,” he added with a smile, “if you would have told me that a couple of years ago, I would say it would be amazing.”
On the field, Haile-Selassie has exceeded expectations. Fire fans didn’t know what kind of player was coming in and wondered if he’d even be a starting-level player in MLS. Just a few weeks into the season, by the time he opened his scoring account against the Philadelphia Union, it was clear that he had fit right in.
“It’s a good feeling to score goals, to help the team to assist goals. Obviously, as an attacking player, that’s what you want to want to do. Everybody has their job on the field, you want to create chances, you want to score and help the team win, so I hope to do even more in the second half of the championship to so that we can achieve our goals.”
The season was somewhat disrupted a few months in when there was a coaching change as Frank Klopas replaced Ezra Hendrickson. The swap also brought about a change in system, as for a few weeks, the Fire shifted to a fluid 3-4-2-1, a shape that had no traditional wingers. Haile-Selassie had to improvise and adapt, and he did so, emerging as a viable option at right wingback even though it wasn’t his favorite position to play. While he hasn’t yet been rewarded with a first-time call-up to the senior Swiss national team, his performances have caught the eye of head coach Murat Yakin, who recently visited Chicago and had a chat with him.
Initially, Haile-Selassie’s transfer is a loan, though the Fire do maintain an option to buy him permanently at the end of the season. With most of the sporting staff’s contracts expiring after this year, it remains up in the air what will happen in the offseason, but with his performances on the field, Haile-Selassie has shown that he belongs and can be an important contributor in this league. With the uncertain nature surrounding this situation, he believes it’s important to focus on the games in front of him.
“I learned in my young career so far that in football, It’s tough to see toward the future, so I stopped doing that some time ago. Now I’m just trying to give my best in every moment… I’m not sure if I that I want to say all of my goals, but I want to continue to improve, to develop, to help the team to impress, and to just being a good player to watch.”
Life in Chicago may not have much in common with Switzerland apart from an occasional smell of chocolate in the air, but that’s proved to be no hurdle for the Fire’s latest Alpine star. What the last few months have shown is that if the Fire are to accomplish their goals this season and return to the playoffs for the first time in six years, there’s no doubt that Haile-Selassie will be a big reason why.
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