GABRIEL
WHAT’S IT TO YA?
Gabriel Guisado is a creative and media personality, the co-founder of Wavy Footy & 5ASIDE Media, and founder of the R&B event series Vino Vriday. Based in New York, he’s been part of a new generation of football media rooted in and celebrating Black culture, creating space for new voices and perspectives within the sport. We caught up with Gabriel on his recent visit to Toronto to talk about his football origin story, covering AFCON in Morocco and what’s next for him and 5ASIDE.
How did football first enter your life?
Football first entered my life through my heritage. I’m half Spanish, and in 2006, which was a World Cup year, my family from Spain came to visit. My cousin actually came for a few months first to learn some english before going to England. She came from Madrid, and so that’s the reason I’m a Madrid fan. A lot of people might be bandwagon, this or that. I got it directly from the source. And that’s when I fell in love with it. Not even because of Madrid initially, but because it was a World Cup year.
Before that I didn’t watch soccer really at all. I was much more into the NBA and a little bit of NFL. But I was only nine years old as well, so I was so young and wasn’t fully into sports like that. Then seeing that 2006 World Cup which had so many iconic teams. From what Germany was as the host nation, Brazil of course, France, and Spain was right on the bubble of becoming the great all-time team that they were going to be afterwards. Even the US, the men’s national team had a really tough group stage, but it was the first time I felt a connection between an American identity and soccer, because before that, I had no thoughts of it whatsoever.
So yeah, I completely fell in love with the game from the 2006 World Cup, and it was my first real passion. That was the first time in life I felt like, ‘oh, this is my thing’. And since then, it’s been my whole life.
How did football first enter your life?
Football first entered my life through my heritage. I’m half Spanish, and in 2006, which was a World Cup year, my family from Spain came to visit. My cousin actually came for a few months first to learn some english before going to England. She came from Madrid, and so that’s the reason I’m a Madrid fan. A lot of people might be bandwagon, this or that. I got it directly from the source. And that’s when I fell in love with it. Not even because of Madrid initially, but because it was a World Cup year.
Before that I didn’t watch soccer really at all. I was much more into the NBA and a little bit of NFL. But I was only nine years old as well, so I was so young and wasn’t fully into sports like that. Then seeing that 2006 World Cup which had so many iconic teams. From what Germany was as the host nation, Brazil of course, France, and Spain was right on the bubble of becoming the great all-time team that they were going to be afterwards. Even the US, the men’s national team had a really tough group stage, but it was the first time I felt a connection between an American identity and soccer, because before that, I had no thoughts of it whatsoever.
So yeah, I completely fell in love with the game from the 2006 World Cup, and it was my first real passion. That was the first time in life I felt like, ‘oh, this is my thing’. And since then, it’s been my whole life.
Tell us about your career and what you do now?
I’m the co-founder of 5ASIDE Media and Wavy Footy. We’re an agency and platform dedicated to growing soccer in America, and doing so through the lens of black culture. When I talked about falling in love with the sport and growing up in America, I never felt like the representation was there when it came to my country. You know what I mean? Whether that was the players on the team, or from the media side.
When I looked around the world, at France, Brazil, or Africa, to me it looked quite Black and it’s really everybody’s sport. So why can’t it be the same in America? That’s when we started the whole concept, when Josh and I saw France win the 2018 World Cup. If we want the U.S team to look like this, how do we do it? It’s not just highlighting the sport and the black excellence, but the culture around it—the fashion, the music, even the politics, and the social identity part of it. So we started with that, with Wavy Footy, which was kind of blog style at first. We started building the community, getting tapped in with other platforms like yourselves—shout out DARBY. That built a lot of online community, but it’s one thing to talk about the culture in written words, and it’s another thing to put your face on it. And that’s when 5ASIDE started and we brought in some other guys in the fall of 2022.
Once we started the podcast, that’s when things really popped off—especially around the World Cup. That eventually led to more things, like now I’m a La Liga content creator, as a group we’ve done tournaments with La Liga, we have a TV show with Bein Sports, spent the whole month at AFCON, brand deals with Nivia Men and other sponsors, all the events we host. Now it’s turned into a career, and that’s a beautiful thing.
I’m the co-founder of 5ASIDE Media and Wavy Footy. We’re an agency and platform dedicated to growing soccer in America, and doing so through the lens of black culture. When I talked about falling in love with the sport and growing up in America, I never felt like the representation was there when it came to my country. You know what I mean? Whether that was the players on the team, or from the media side.
When I looked around the world, at France, Brazil, or Africa, to me it looked quite Black and it’s really everybody’s sport. So why can’t it be the same in America? That’s when we started the whole concept, when Josh and I saw France win the 2018 World Cup. If we want the U.S team to look like this, how do we do it? It’s not just highlighting the sport and the black excellence, but the culture around it—the fashion, the music, even the politics, and the social identity part of it. So we started with that, with Wavy Footy, which was kind of blog style at first. We started building the community, getting tapped in with other platforms like yourselves—shout out DARBY. That built a lot of online community, but it’s one thing to talk about the culture in written words, and it’s another thing to put your face on it. And that’s when 5ASIDE started and we brought in some other guys in the fall of 2022.
Once we started the podcast, that’s when things really popped off—especially around the World Cup. That eventually led to more things, like now I’m a La Liga content creator, as a group we’ve done tournaments with La Liga, we have a TV show with Bein Sports, spent the whole month at AFCON, brand deals with Nivia Men and other sponsors, all the events we host. Now it’s turned into a career, and that’s a beautiful thing.
What have been some of your favourite experiences in your career so far?
You see it in the jersey. Being in Morocco for the entire month of AFCON, for the biggest AFCON ever, was a complete dream come true for us to be able to do that. Doing it with the exclusive rightsholders in the U.S. meant we had rights holders passes going to the stadiums. So, I mean, we were able to experience everything. We were literally at the opening ceremony on the field, and that’s when it really hit me at that moment. To see such an iconic show and to be front row, it was something you would almost never dream about. You don’t even think about opening ceremonies and the lights and the show and the dancing. French Montana walked by us and it’s the beginning of the tournament so it’s the moment of realization of like, ‘oh, this is really about to go down’.
Morocco as a country really embraced us. The hospitality was amazing. A lot of the locals actually thought I was Moroccan, so it felt like a way of also—I don’t know if I’m genetically Moroccan, obviously a lot of African-Americans are still figuring out our ancestry—but that story of being back in Africa and then connecting with a culture, it was really special.
Then the football we watched… It was incredible. We ran around the entire country, went to every stadium and every city. We were at the final—one of the craziest matches of all time—I mean, just unbelievable. It was a really powerful moment of just like, a different level of locking in as well, because as fun as it was, it was probably the most gruelling experience of our careers so far. In terms of the editing, and the live stream pre-match, post-match, having to constantly get stuff out. But it was an experience of a lifetime and something I’ll cherish forever.
You see it in the jersey. Being in Morocco for the entire month of AFCON, for the biggest AFCON ever, was a complete dream come true for us to be able to do that. Doing it with the exclusive rightsholders in the U.S. meant we had rights holders passes going to the stadiums. So, I mean, we were able to experience everything. We were literally at the opening ceremony on the field, and that’s when it really hit me at that moment. To see such an iconic show and to be front row, it was something you would almost never dream about. You don’t even think about opening ceremonies and the lights and the show and the dancing. French Montana walked by us and it’s the beginning of the tournament so it’s the moment of realization of like, ‘oh, this is really about to go down’.
Morocco as a country really embraced us. The hospitality was amazing. A lot of the locals actually thought I was Moroccan, so it felt like a way of also—I don’t know if I’m genetically Moroccan, obviously a lot of African-Americans are still figuring out our ancestry—but that story of being back in Africa and then connecting with a culture, it was really special.
Then the football we watched… It was incredible. We ran around the entire country, went to every stadium and every city. We were at the final—one of the craziest matches of all time—I mean, just unbelievable. It was a really powerful moment of just like, a different level of locking in as well, because as fun as it was, it was probably the most gruelling experience of our careers so far. In terms of the editing, and the live stream pre-match, post-match, having to constantly get stuff out. But it was an experience of a lifetime and something I’ll cherish forever.
Where do you see things going in the future for you and 5ASIDE?
I love everything that we’re doing. 5ASIDE has become so expansive; we have the podcast, the TV element with BeIN Sports, and events from watch parties and tournaments to networking nights. We also create content at games and are getting invited to cover major events. For example, I went on the Jordan Brazil trip to São Paulo where Ronaldinho was right in front of me—one of the most special experiences of my life.
Moving forward, I want to scale everything we’re doing. Personally, I want to continue expanding my media presence and get deeper into being on TV and digital platforms, not just in the football space but in the broader cultural realm. I have a lot of perspective on culture, humanity, and our lived experiences, and I want to dive into that. For 5ASIDE, we want to continue being that source of inspiration for Black voices in American soccer. People are already telling us they started creating content because of what they’ve seen us do. We’re reaching people who feel like this was what they were missing to finally tap into the sport. As soccer in America grows, I want 5ASIDE to stay at the forefront, directly reflecting the diversity we see in the game.
I love everything that we’re doing. 5ASIDE has become so expansive; we have the podcast, the TV element with BeIN Sports, and events from watch parties and tournaments to networking nights. We also create content at games and are getting invited to cover major events. For example, I went on the Jordan Brazil trip to São Paulo where Ronaldinho was right in front of me—one of the most special experiences of my life.
Moving forward, I want to scale everything we’re doing. Personally, I want to continue expanding my media presence and get deeper into being on TV and digital platforms, not just in the football space but in the broader cultural realm. I have a lot of perspective on culture, humanity, and our lived experiences, and I want to dive into that. For 5ASIDE, we want to continue being that source of inspiration for Black voices in American soccer. People are already telling us they started creating content because of what they’ve seen us do. We’re reaching people who feel like this was what they were missing to finally tap into the sport. As soccer in America grows, I want 5ASIDE to stay at the forefront, directly reflecting the diversity we see in the game.
