SFEA Announces Former Professional Player & USSF A Licensed Coach, Tommy Alioto, Joins Coaching Staff

Alioto’s vast experience and expertise as a player, coach, and Director of Coaching further strengthens San Francisco’s most accomplished youth soccer staff.

SFEA Coach Tommy Alioto

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. APRIL 22, 2019—The San Francisco Elite Academy announced today that Tommy Alioto has joined the SFEA coaching staff effective immediately. A member of the Wisconsin Soccer Association Hall of Fame, Alioto played professionally for 15 years, coached teams for over 30 years and has vast experience in player development and as a youth Director of Coaching. He is also a longtime coaching instructor who has led USSF D, E, F, and grass roots coaching courses in Wisconsin and Northern California.

Coach Alioto, who holds a USSF ‘A’ license, joins a staff that already includes another 7 A licensed coaches and 8 B licensed coaches, affording SFEA players and teams a level of technical coaching expertise unmatched in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Alioto will support all of the SFEA’s players and teams as a staff coach until 2019-2020 head coaching positions are announced later this month. In addition, he will immediately serve SFEA Executive Director Joe Dugan by helping with club operations, as well as by working closely with Girls’ Director of Coaching Jim Millinder in overseeing the club’s player development initiatives and overall technical direction.

“We’re tremendously excited to have Tommy joining our SFEA team,” said Joe Dugan, President of the San Francisco Elite Academy. “His experiences in working with professional players, coaching, and leading at all levels of the youth game will be an incredible asset to our program. Incredibly, our staff now includes six coaches with Director of Coaching experience This provides all of our teams, as well as our coaching staff, incredible insight and support in attending to player development.”

Alioto grew up in Wisconsin playing for national powerhouse, Milwaukee Bavarians. His U19 team was the first team in Wisconsin to make it to the National Youth Championship Final 4. In 1980, he signed with the Chicago Sting of the NASL and in 1981 moved to the Oklahoma City Slickers with Jimmy Millinder in the American Soccer League where he also made the A League All-Star team. Later, he played professionally with the Kansas City Comets, Milwaukee Wave, Louisville Thunder, and Houston Dynamos. He was Assistant Coach coach with the Pro team Milwaukee Rampage which won the A League Championship. Alioto has developed many youth academies including FC Kickers, Milwaukee Rampage, then Sockers FC Milwaukee, and Clovis Crossfire of California.

Jim Millinder, SFEA’s Girls Director of Coaching and former teammate of Tommy echoed the club’s excitement over Alito’s addition to the SFEA staff: “I’ve known Tommy for 35 years from when we played together. He was an outstanding player and even a  better coach. His passion and love for the game has allowed him to touch many youth players lives around the country in all his former coaching endeavors. I look forward to Tommy doing the same things here at SFEA.”

About the San Francisco Elite Academy (SFEA)
The San Francisco Elite Academy (SFEA) is the top college placement youth soccer program in San Francisco, in just four years we have over 30 former players now competing in college soccer. We are developing the next generation of players to the highest standards, ensuring they receive the necessary training and support to successfully represent San Francisco at the highest level of play, our community, and our country.

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