Yasmin Abdullahi talks about the formation of a Muslim women's football team

Published on: 10 March 2021
Yasmin Abdullahi talks about the formation of a Muslim women's football team
African football leagues are tough

Yasmin Abdullahi is the founder of Sisterhood FC, which she believes is the first women's Muslim football club in the UK. Here she tells her story.

It would be a dream come true to see a Muslim girl who wears a hijab play for England.

Until we see that, it will be another unattainable dream for a lot of girls - something they can't do.

That's why I started Sisterhood FC, because I really want to help or support the possibility of the first hijabi who plays for the Lionesses.

'We kept equipment in lockers near the prayer room - but people would steal it'

The team began when I was at Goldsmiths University in London in 2018 and I had started reconnecting with my faith.

There was an Islamic Society in Goldsmiths and they put on an event, for Iftar, which is after you break your daily fast in Ramadan.

Everyone was just so friendly. They were asking me 'What do you study?'. And I would tell them I studied education studies and I'm in a women's football team for Goldsmiths - and they gasped.

They were literally asking "you wear a hijab and play football?".

I didn't understand why it was such a shock, because nothing made me ever stop playing sports, not if I'm a girl, not if I'm Muslim, nothing has ever come across my mind to say I shouldn't do any type of sport.

Comments