WHEN YOUR FATHER is from Algeria, your mother is from France, and you grow up football-mad in Ringsend, there are some obvious heroes to look up to.
Zinedine Zidane, Sean Gannon, and Sean Kavanagh, of course.
Jad Hakiki went to the same school – Marian College – just around the corner from the Aviva Stadium as two of those three players.
He had to make do with his Dad, Tarik, pulling up videos on YouTube of the other.
“I was six or seven and grew up watching clips of Zidane. I’m watching and thinking ‘Jesus, how am I going to replicate this in a game?’ He would show me clips from all sorts of players, it was something to bond over,” Hakiki says.
He remembers Gannon and Kavanagh visiting the school while he was still a pupil and has tried in vain to source the photo he had taken with the pair of multiple League of Ireland title winners – 16 between them.
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Hakiki also knew of “the younger girl who was better than everyone at football” whenever he was around Cambridge Football Club in Ringsend.
Abbie Larkin went on to play for the Republic of Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, and the 20-year-old remains a key figure in Carla Ward’s senior team.
Hakiki is just over a year older than Larkin and his own journey from Shelbourne to Dundalk and now Sligo Rovers has seen him represent the Boys in Green from U18s to U21s.
It’s a dream he and his older brother, Ayman, shared when they would play around Ringsend. His father was a constant source of support and his mother, Isabelle, also provided guidance when needed.
“I don’t take it for granted that they can come to the games and their presence is there,” he says.
“They will give me advice but they never try to lead me in a direction where it’s not me making the decision for myself.
“They would tell me too, sometimes the people who have the best intentions for you might still end up leading you in the wrong direction, so they will give advice but it’s ultimately about me making decisions for myself.”
In the age of social media, Hakiki shuns the urge to seek vacuous acclaim or easy likes that mean nothing.
“The people that matter are my family, my friends, my teammates, my manager,” he says.
His parents, Tarik and Isabelle, met in Dublin after they both moved here to study. The boys were born and their life here became permanent. Jad thrived with the ball at his feet, bobbing and weaving and catching the eye at Belvedere and Bray Wanderers before he joined Shels and got to work under Damien Duff’s U17 League of Ireland academy side.
“He made you realise the standards you need to have to become a professional. He worked so hard, the experiences he’s had in his career and the way he worked, it showed everyone what needs to be done.”
Hakiki began a first-team squad player under Duff at Tolka Park but in July 2024 – halfway through their title-winning season – he left to join Dundalk for what ultimately proved to be a futile relegation battle.
His performances caught the eye of Sligo, not to mention Jim Crawford at international level,
John Russell, his manager at the Bit O’Red, is someone who has already made an impact on his career by being able to judge the temperature of a dressing room perfectly.
“I feel like he’s always got the right thing to say, he always knows what the players need when we look to him,” Hakiki says.
A case in point was the mid-season break during the last campaign when Sligo were bottom of the table. Russell held one-on-one meetings with several players and also brought the squad together.
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Jad Hakiki in action for Sligo Rovers. Evan Logan / INPHO
Evan Logan / INPHO / INPHO
“He instilled belief into us the way he deal with it, he had a calmness and when you see the belief he has in you that just stays with you.”
Sligo finished seventh in 2025 but have since lost PFA Ireland Young Player of the Year Owen Elding to Hibernian in a €400,000 move that could rise to more than €1 million depending on his progress.
Hakiki is now one of those who has even more responsibility and it looked like his break from midfield into the box to score against Derry City was going to earn Sligo three precious points on the opening night last week.
The Candystripes struck twice late on, however, and it means the visit of Bohemians to the Showgrounds this evening takes on even more significance.
“I have to step up in games. If things aren’t going well I want to be a player my teammates can look at and see is still working hard, still trying to get on the ball and make things happen, being a leader in some way.”
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Irish star from Ringsend with French and Algerian flair - 'I grew up watching Zidane'
WHEN YOUR FATHER is from Algeria, your mother is from France, and you grow up football-mad in Ringsend, there are some obvious heroes to look up to.
Zinedine Zidane, Sean Gannon, and Sean Kavanagh, of course.
Jad Hakiki went to the same school – Marian College – just around the corner from the Aviva Stadium as two of those three players.
He had to make do with his Dad, Tarik, pulling up videos on YouTube of the other.
“I was six or seven and grew up watching clips of Zidane. I’m watching and thinking ‘Jesus, how am I going to replicate this in a game?’ He would show me clips from all sorts of players, it was something to bond over,” Hakiki says.
He remembers Gannon and Kavanagh visiting the school while he was still a pupil and has tried in vain to source the photo he had taken with the pair of multiple League of Ireland title winners – 16 between them.
Hakiki also knew of “the younger girl who was better than everyone at football” whenever he was around Cambridge Football Club in Ringsend.
Abbie Larkin went on to play for the Republic of Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, and the 20-year-old remains a key figure in Carla Ward’s senior team.
Hakiki is just over a year older than Larkin and his own journey from Shelbourne to Dundalk and now Sligo Rovers has seen him represent the Boys in Green from U18s to U21s.
It’s a dream he and his older brother, Ayman, shared when they would play around Ringsend. His father was a constant source of support and his mother, Isabelle, also provided guidance when needed.
“I don’t take it for granted that they can come to the games and their presence is there,” he says.
“They will give me advice but they never try to lead me in a direction where it’s not me making the decision for myself.
“They would tell me too, sometimes the people who have the best intentions for you might still end up leading you in the wrong direction, so they will give advice but it’s ultimately about me making decisions for myself.”
In the age of social media, Hakiki shuns the urge to seek vacuous acclaim or easy likes that mean nothing.
“The people that matter are my family, my friends, my teammates, my manager,” he says.
His parents, Tarik and Isabelle, met in Dublin after they both moved here to study. The boys were born and their life here became permanent. Jad thrived with the ball at his feet, bobbing and weaving and catching the eye at Belvedere and Bray Wanderers before he joined Shels and got to work under Damien Duff’s U17 League of Ireland academy side.
“He made you realise the standards you need to have to become a professional. He worked so hard, the experiences he’s had in his career and the way he worked, it showed everyone what needs to be done.”
Hakiki began a first-team squad player under Duff at Tolka Park but in July 2024 – halfway through their title-winning season – he left to join Dundalk for what ultimately proved to be a futile relegation battle.
His performances caught the eye of Sligo, not to mention Jim Crawford at international level,
John Russell, his manager at the Bit O’Red, is someone who has already made an impact on his career by being able to judge the temperature of a dressing room perfectly.
“I feel like he’s always got the right thing to say, he always knows what the players need when we look to him,” Hakiki says.
A case in point was the mid-season break during the last campaign when Sligo were bottom of the table. Russell held one-on-one meetings with several players and also brought the squad together.
“He instilled belief into us the way he deal with it, he had a calmness and when you see the belief he has in you that just stays with you.”
Sligo finished seventh in 2025 but have since lost PFA Ireland Young Player of the Year Owen Elding to Hibernian in a €400,000 move that could rise to more than €1 million depending on his progress.
Hakiki is now one of those who has even more responsibility and it looked like his break from midfield into the box to score against Derry City was going to earn Sligo three precious points on the opening night last week.
The Candystripes struck twice late on, however, and it means the visit of Bohemians to the Showgrounds this evening takes on even more significance.
“I have to step up in games. If things aren’t going well I want to be a player my teammates can look at and see is still working hard, still trying to get on the ball and make things happen, being a leader in some way.”
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bit o' class Jad Hakiki League of Ireland LOI Sligo Rovers