Abu Dhabi-based starlet Fay Al-Qaimi looking to make it big in women’s professional football

RIYADH: It is rare for a young, aspiring footballer in the Middle East to catch the attention of European clubs. And it is almost unheard of if they happen to be a woman.

But then again, few have been as good as Fay Al-Qaimi, the 17-year-old British-Iraqi who was born and raised in the UAE.

From kicking a ball around her Abu Dhabi home as a child, to being invited to train with Arsenal and Tottenham, and playing in men’s teams because she was too good for her female contemporaries, she has always stood out.

Al-Qaimi said: “My earliest memories were kicking the ball at the age of three. My parents would always take me to my older brother’s training sessions, just to kick a football on the side.

“I’d always beg my parents to take me to be honest. I think just from a young age, there was always a clear love for the game. Being in a family that loves football definitely helped. But I think my kind of passion for it came naturally, like it was never forced upon me, from my family.”

Her father, Waiel Al-Qaimi, recalled that at one of the sessions his daughter joined her brother and his teammates as they did a jog around the pitch, and long after the boys stopped, she was still going.

“I don’t think I ever ran out of energy, to be honest. My parents always told me when I was younger, I just wouldn’t stop. I would continuously ask them to take me to my brother’s training or just to the park. I don’t think I stopped running,” she added.

From the age of seven, she started attending her own training sessions, and by 10 she was one of the standout players at The British School Al-Khubairat.

She said: “It was definitely my dad who encouraged me to take football seriously. He was the one who got me into it from the beginning.