Introducing the AMBOSS football team
An Interview with Ryan Colaço, Physician Business Consultant and Squad Member of the 2021 AMBOSS FC team
Hi Ryan, great to meet you today to chat about the AMBOSS football (soccer) team! Would you mind introducing yourself?
We’re a team of casual, but enthusiastic, football-playing AMBOSSians. Our team has been competing in Berlin’s corporate league since 2018 and everyone’s invited to join!
The idea to play football together has actually been around since 2016. Two of the founders of the company (Nawid and Kenan) are football-lovers, and we had toyed with the idea of kicking around together for a while. Two years later, it finally came to fruition. The AMBOSS football team (AMBOSS FC) has played more than 3 seasons now.
During the season, we meet once a week for the actual matches, but we also try to make time for casual training sessions. It’s all about fun — bringing people from different backgrounds and parts of the company together!
Tell us more about the corporate league and who you compete against.
We began by playing in the Urban Sports League (sponsored by — surprise! — Urban Sports). When COVID put a permanent stop to this specific league, a new league was created by a former employee of Urban Sports: the Berlin Start-Up League, which kicked-off once vaccines brought some normalcy back to local sports.
We compete against other football teams representing other companies, just like our very own.
Last month, we concluded the 2020–21 season and came in third place! We’ve never done that well before. But what has remained consistent through every season is that we’re one of the most liked teams — by the organizers, the referees, AND even our opponents.
Haha, why do you think that is?
Probably because we are just so damn cool 😁
No, but for real — maybe it is just the way we interact with each other as AMBOSSians. That also influences our general attitude to the games and probably makes us nicer in our interactions with everyone else!
And PROBABLY because many of us have a medical background, which is always appreciated when there’s an injury somewhere on the grounds (or when our MBP — Most Badass Player — Miriam is taking it up with our rivals 😉).
How many AMBOSSians are playing on the team?
We have around 21 officially registered players from different departments. It’s a mixed bunch and everyone’s welcome to join! When we play a match, we rotate between registered players, so everyone gets their turn. However, that also means our performance fluctuates a little, depending on how the team is put together and how well they know each other.
How has your performance developed over the last three years?
Honestly, when we first started in the Urban Sports League, we were…pretty bad!
But we’ve gotten significantly better since! Long gone are the days where we were just awkwardly bouncing balls off the walls at the indoor court where we first started playing. By getting to know each other better and practicing more, we’ve gotten better and better and are really proud to have closed the last season coming in third!
Now all we need is a few more AMBOSS-cheerleaders to help us reach first place!
What do AMBOSSians who want to join need to know?
Join our slack channel #football-miamed — we’re always looking for new people to join!
Another option would be to whisper the word “football” in the office hallways and one of the team veterans (like Alex, Fred, or Abud) will magically appear, like a footballing Gandalf, to snatch you away for our next training session.
Of course, you can also just write to me or anyone else who regularly plays — we’re happy to answer any questions you may have.
If you have just moved to Berlin, as so many of us have, it’s an invitation to come and join something bigger, have fun, and make connections. And also: get a peek into the huge expat football scene in Berlin!