Amina Hanif remembers the day she turned up for her first football trial. She was 14 and eager to impress the coaches at Watford with her nimble footwork and sheer pace. But, as she made her way from the car park to the training ground, she asked herself some serious questions.
“I questioned my life decisions there and then,” says the 22-year-old, who now plays for the Women’s National League side Chesham United and the Pakistan national team. “We were walking to where all the coaches, players and parents were and I remember my mum turning to me and saying: ‘They’re all staring!’ and, after wishing me luck, she headed straight back to the car and left me to fend for myself!”
Born into a British-Pakistani family and growing up playing with a hijab, she has often felt out of place in the sport. “I used to think I stand out so badly wearing a hijab, and that lowered my confidence and distracted me from my game,” she says.
These days, however, Hanif wears the headscarf with pride and wants to be an inspiration for young girls like her as she plies her trade in the fourth tier of English football. “After a while something just clicked and I stopped caring about pretty much everything. It feels really good when nothing affects you,” she says.
“I like being different – the hijab means I stand out on the pitch more. The only challenge I have nowadays is readjusting my headscarf after heading the ball or hiding my pins from the referee before the game. I’ve been offered a Nike hijab, but I’m counting on my own becoming iconic,” she says.
Hanif recently made her debut for Pakistan, who returned to international football last September after an eight-year hiatus. The Green Shirts were inactive between 2014 and 2022 after the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) was suspended by Fifa on several occasions in that time.
View image in fullscreenAmina Hanif (top row, second left) and her Pakistan teammates line up before kick-off in their Olympic qualifying match against Tajikistan. Photograph: Courtesy of Fifa
She has already helped to make history for Pakistan: her defence-splitting pass set up Zahmena Malik to score the only goal when they recorded their first-ever win in the women’s Olympic qualifiers, defeating Tajikistan 1-0.
Pakistan were eliminated from the tournament, held in the Tajik city of Hisar, after defeats by Hong Kong and a Philippines side preparing for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but Hanif believes there were positives to take from the qualifiers.
“My goal was always to play at the highest level. However I had never heard much about the Pakistan women’s team until the opportunity came along. It goes to show you never really know where life will take you.”
“The Pakistani community in the United Kingdom is not recognised within a lot of sports. But by being a part of the team I am hoping this will inspire other girls to take up sports and follow their passions in both Pakistan and the UK,” she says.
Having grown up watching Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and trying to copy the playing styles of Neymar and Dimitar Berbatov, among others, Hanif has played in midfield and across the forward positions at Watford, Denham United and now Chesham. She was deployed as a central defensive midfielder by the head coach, Adeel Rizki, for the Olympic qualifiers.
“I am constantly scanning and communicating with my teammates when on the pitch. Playing as a defensive midfielder, I was not able to show a lot of my attacking side so grabbing an assist was satisfying. I was praying Zahmena would finish, and she did,” Hanif says. “Pakistan has such a huge population and trust me, there’s talent out there – both boys and girls. It’s just a shame there’s no real setup or scouting in place. I hope by bringing more success with the national team, other girls will feel it’s worth the time and effort to pursue their dreams.”
Back in the UK, Hanif can feel attitudes shifting slowly in women’s football, and even more palpably at home. “I knew some family members didn’t entirely agree with me playing football, but that wasn’t a problem for me, nor did it affect my relationship with any of them,” she said. “If anything, it was a good laugh turning up on Eid in my Barcelona jersey. They are happy for me now and will probably be concerned if I stopped playing football.”
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Moving the Goalposts
Free weekly newsletter
No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women’s football
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Hanif feels there is plenty to do when it comes to ethnic-minority representation in women’s football. “There was not a single person of colour when I went to Watford for my trials, but you find more black and Asian footballers these days in the lower divisions,” she says. “[Diversity] is improving and there are Asians in academies now. So more girls are getting involved with the sport and with a higher chance of reaching the highest level.”
Recommended viewing
Uppsala suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Linköping in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan on Saturday, but their consolation goal was highlights reel-worthy as Matilda Eriksson Kristell’s curling delivery into the box wrong-footed the opposition goalkeeper, Cajsa Andersson.
<p lang=\"sv\" dir=\"ltr\">Uppsala reducerar snabbt genom ett inlägg från Matilda Eriksson Kristell som letar sig hela vägen in i mål <a href=\"https://t.co/5CVUd2U2dm\">pic.twitter.com/5CVUd2U2dm</a></p>— Viaplay Fotboll (@ViaplayFotboll) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ViaplayFotboll/status/1664999945991069696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 2023</a></blockquote>\n"}}”>
Uppsala reducerar snabbt genom ett inlägg från Matilda Eriksson Kristell som letar sig hela vägen in i mål pic.twitter.com/5CVUd2U2dm
— Viaplay Fotboll (@ViaplayFotboll) June 3, 2023
Have a question for our writers – or want to suggest a topic to cover? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
This is an extract from our weekly women’s football email, Moving the Goalposts. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
