‘I knew I belonged’: Saudi footballer Aljowharah Hassan turns resistance into motivation

ALKHOBAR: When Aljowharah Hassan was asked to go in goal during a 2024 university match against Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, the attacking player had never played as a keeper before.

Her usual position was on the left wing, but an injury to a teammate meant the 24-year-old had to make an unexpected switch during the match, played at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University’s Al-Rakah campus in Dammam.

“I won’t deny how nervous I became when I heard the news. I wasn’t prepared, but I took it as a challenge with myself to prove that I deserved the position and the trust of my teammates and coach,” Hassan told Arab News.

The gamble paid off. She kept a clean sheet and her team beat Princess Nourah University 3-0.

“As soon as I heard the whistle, the crowd was chanting my name, my teammates were congratulating me, the coach was praising me and even the opposition congratulated me,” she said. “That was when I knew I was in the right place and that I belonged there.”

For Hassan, the moment was part of a football journey that began in 2019, not with plans to compete professionally, but as an escape from the pressures of everyday life.

“Sport was an outlet for me from the noise of life — another way to organize my thoughts,” she said.

Her curiosity initially led her to try basketball, tennis, padel, swimming and running. Football felt different.

Hassan began playing informal neighborhood games with relatives and neighbors in 2019. By late 2020, she was taking part in a sports program run by SABIC Sharq in Jubail Industrial City, where she trained alongside players of different ages and skill levels.

“As soon as I tried football, curiosity was no longer the only thing driving me,” she said. “It became