With five months before the world’s biggest football tournament kicks off, women playing the sport in Qatar are still hoping for their own shot at glory.
“Lack of support for women’s football is as much a global issue as it is a local issue. It only takes one look at the gender pay gap in football to realise this,” said 20-year-old Deema Al Hammadi, as she hurriedly laced up her shoes before entering a football pitch in Education City.
Al Hammadi is a third-year engineering student at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university. She comes from a family where football fever runs high – both her older brothers used to play for Al Sadd, a local football club. Naturally, she started at a young age too but unlike her brothers, Al Hammadi struggled to continue playing as she got older.
According to her, it’s quite common for young girls in Qatar to play football but it’s a leaky pipeline, and many girls stop playing as they get older. The number one reason for this is the lack of access to suitable football facilities that are in line with their need for privacy.
“I remember, it was when I was starting senior school that I started looking for a proper women’s team that I could join outside school. One that also had a female coach. I could not find one. The teams that I did find either had a male coach or did not play in a private female-only setting. It was frustrating, it seemed like I would have no choice but to give up football.”
Thankfully, it did not come to that. After Al Hammadi joined TAMU-Q, she found women-only community football classes at QF’s Education City (EC) and has since been playing with them.
Al Hammadi trains three times a week and is undoubtedly getting better. Despite whole-heartedly enjoying football, sometimes she can’t help but wonder what is it that she is working towards.
“As a young woman, the fact that my country – Qatar – does not have a national women’s football team is quite demotivating for me. The highest honour for someone seriously invested in sports is to represent their country but that option doesn’t exist for us, not for now.”
Al Hammadi is hopeful that better and brighter days will come. “Change isn’t a switch that can be flipped, it’s a gradual process. Several other Qatari girls and I who play football are proof of the change that is coming.”
In a bid to promote sports among women in Qatar, one element of the EC strategy is focused on ensuring that all its sports facilities, including football, are conducive to women and girls playing sport. There are a few ways this is done; one is through actual infrastructure and seeing that it can be made private if needed. The second is by setting aside ladies-only timings and ensuring that they are conducive to women and their schedules. And finally, through offering sports programs that are available for girls and women across the country of all ages and playing at any level.
Seyedeh Mahboobeh, a 35-year-old from Iran currently serves as a football coach for community classes at EC for girls under 14.
She made her way to Qatar in 2020 to pursue a Masters in Exercise Science at QF’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
Mahboobeh played professionally for several clubs in Iran when she was in her 20’s. Following an injury, she stopped playing professionally and is now a certified football coach.
Commenting on whether she has seen a change in women’s football in Qatar in the two years she has been here, Mahboobeh said: “At a grassroots level, there has undoubtedly been an increase in the number of girls playing football. As a coach, I can confidently say the talent is there, what is needed is more opportunities for girls to train and compete.”
According to Al Hammadi, the private indoor courts, female coaches, and training programs at EC have all played a key role in improving accessibility to football for women in Qatar. She said: “The number of women enrolled in the football program at EC is a clear indication that there was never a shortage of women who wanted to play football in Qatar, what was lacking was facilities that were conducive to them playing. I hope more places will follow EC’s lead and work towards making football more accessible. We cannot and should not expect women to drive long distances to play football when there is a football club in every locality that can be made accessible.”
Alexandru Rosca, Manager of Community Engagement & Activation at QF, highlighted EC’s unwavering commitment toward making sports accessible and inclusive for all. Speaking particularly on the women’s football program, he said that based on feedback from participants of the community engagement football classes, the EC team is currently looking at expanding the football program and adding strength training to it by giving them access to the EC gyms as well.
Rosca said: “Another exciting thing we have planned for the near future is to make one of the outdoor football pitches private by placing a high, non-see-through fence around it so women can play outdoors in privacy”
